Book ^ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



A HISTORY 

OF 

METHODISM: 

COMPRISING 

View of the Rise of this Be vital of Spiritual Religion 
m THE First Half of the Eighteenth Century , and 
of the Principal Agents by whom it was 
Promoted in Europe and America ; 

WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF 

The Doctrine and Polity of Episcopal Metliodism 
In the United States, and the Means and Manner of its Extension 
Dov/n to A.D. 1884. 



HOLLAND N. McTYEIRE, D.D., 

One of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 



SEP 16 1884' 



NASHVILLE, TENN. t 

SouTHEEN Methodist Publishing House. 
1884. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, 
By the Book Agents of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 



PREFA6E. 



THIS work was begun at the request of the Centenary Committee, and was 
encouraged by the recommendation of the College of Bishops, of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South. 

Much the larger portion of the volume deals in that wherein all Methodists 
agree. I have endeavored to give, along with sketches of the chief actors in pre- 
paring and carrying forward the great work of God, the truths that were vital 
to it, and the type of Christian experience developed by it; also the gradual and 
pr(>vidential evolution of the system, both in doctrine and polity ; so that one who 
honors the book with a perusal may come to the end, not only with a tolerably clear 
understanding of the polity and doctrines of Episcopal Methodism, but, what is of 
infinitely greater importance, he may obtain some personal knowledge of that way 
of salvation which Wesleyans teach. 

No one, Avith proper ideas, ever looked over a life that had been lived, or a 
book that had been written, without seeing and feeling how it might have been 
bettered. In giving this volume to the public I am mindful that the proverb, 
''The best is often the enemy of the good," applies to authorship as well as to 
many other things. By waiting to realize our highest ideal of excellence, we may 
be restrained from making a contribution to religious literature which, however 
imperfect, would be of some service. 

Several local histories have been written, and well written, giving account of 
the rise and progress of Methodism in States an^ Conferences. Of these I have 
made mention in the following pages, and, as will be seen, have made use in the 
preparation of this more general view of the Church. 

Moral or abstract truth knows no point of the compass, but historical truth 
does; and the truth of history proves this. Methodism in the South has suffered 
injustice from the manner in which it has been presented by learned, honest, and 
able writers in the North. The writer does not presume to be free from the infirm- 
ities to which he is liable in common with others. He proposes to tell the truth 
as he sees it; and this may lead him to tell truths afiecting others which they 
have not seen, and to present admitted facts in a different light. 

The reader is advertised that this is not a history of Southern Methodism, but of 
Methodism from a Southern point of view. In the South, Methodism was first 
successfully planted, and from thence it spread North, and East, and West. If all 
the members claimed by all the branches be counted, there is a preponderance of 
American Methodism now, as at the beginning, in the South. 

Of course I am largely indebted to writers who have gone before, and I make 
my acknowledgment unreservedly of such indebtedness. Original history, per- 
taining to events before the time of the writer, or beyond the range of his per- 
sonal observation, would be a dangerous thing. Of this sort of originality we 
have had quite enough. The time and place from which men and actions are 

f3) 



4 



Preface. 



seen, and the relative importance attached to them, give sufficient scope to individ- 
uality. The interpretation of facts is oftener in dispute than the facts themselves. 

The list of books appended indicates those most consulted, besides biographies 
and autobiographies and fugitive sketches contained in newspaper files running 
through many years. The Minutes and Journals of General and Annual Confer- 
ences from 1773 to the present, the old Disciplines and Magazines and Keviews, 
have been chief sources. This method is adopted as more convenient than bur- 
dening the margin with foot-notes. When an authority is therein specifically 
named it is done not only to show the source of information, if it be questioned, 
but as a suggestion to the reader to consult the same if fuller information is de- 
sired on the subject. 

Methodism has been long enough and potent enough in the world to enter into 
general history, and materials for its delineation begin now to be found every- 
where. But certain writers have wrought in this mine more, and to more advan- 
tage, than others. Jesse Lee was the father of our Church history. After him 
Dr. Nathan Bangs gathered and compiled richly and industriously, and his 
writings, without the graces of style, have a high merit. Dr. Abel Stevens has 
brought all under obligations who come after him. His patience and skill in col- 
lecting and sifting Methodist history, and the literary style which he has dis- 
played, cannot be too much admired. The first wrote when there was no North 
and no South in Methodism ; the second, when these began to be ; the third, when 
they were realities. 

On the other side of the Atlantic, the Eev. Luke T^'erman has not only giv- 
en a great amount of fresh and readable matter, but has critically worked the life 
out of several favorite legends that were passing into fixed history. His manner of 
treating some subjects has given ofiense, justly or unjustly, to a few Wesleyans; but 
no writer of Methodist history, since Southey, has so generally (and in his case fa- 
vorably) influenced the opinion of the outside world, and given direction to the drift 
of secular writers, as Mr. Tyerman. His volumes are a thesaurus. Having access 
to orignal sources, and the taste and skill for making and combining researches, 
and the candor (which, in the opinion of his critics, verges on an affectation, and 
therefore an overdoing, of independence) to utter them, he has superseded many 
volumes by his own. It is the quality of an Englishman (and if a fault, lean- 
ing to virtue's side) to take his observations of all things in heaven and earth 
from his national stand-point. With all liis industry in collecting information, 
and his skill in presenting it through copious volumes that never weary the read- 
er, Mr. Tyerman was so unsatisfactory in his treatment of American Method- 
ism, at a material point, that the Xew York edition of his Life of John AVesley re- 
quired a long Appendix from an American author to set the English author right ; 
and this, the Appendix does thoroughly. If one of Tyerman's breadth and fair- 
ness needs such correction, it is no strange thing if Stevens, Simpson, Porter, Dan- 
iels, and others of that latitude, have not always presented Methodism at the other 
end of their country in a favorable or acceptable light. It is due to the condi- 
tion of astronomers rather than to their disposition that some constellations in 
the heavens cannot be viewed from certain stations on the earth's surface. 

It is hoped that this attempt by a Southern writer at a general history of 
Methodism may have the result which Jesse Lee sought, as stated in his Pref- 
ace : " I desire to show to all our societies and friends that the doctrines which 



Preface. 



5 



we held and preached in the beginning we have continued to support and main- 
tain uniformly to the present day. We have changed the economy and discipline 
of our Church at times, as we judged for the benefit and happiness of our preach- 
ers and people, and the Lord has wonderfully owned and prospered us. It may 
be seen from the following account how the Lord has, from the very small begin- 
nings, raised us up to be a great and prosperous people. It is very certain that 
the goodness of our doctrine and discipline, our manner of receiving preachers, 
and of sending them into different circuits, and the frequent changes among them 
from one circuit to another, have greatly contributed to the promotion of religion, 
the increase of our societies, and the happiness of our preachers." H. N. M. 
Vanderbilt University, August 20, 1884. 

A LIST OF SOME OF THE AUTHORITIES CONSULTED AND USED. 

A Short History of the Methodists in the United Stales of America: Jesse Lee. 12mo, 
pages 36G. Baltimore. 1810. 

History of the Methodist Episcopal Church: N. Bangs, D.D. (4 vols.) 
The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: Edited by John Emory. (2 vols.) 18H7. 
The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.; Edited by John Emory. (7 vols.) 1833, 
The Life of Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: Coke and Moore. 1792. 

The I/ife of Rev. John Wesley, A.M.: Richard Watson; with Observations on Southey's 
r.ife of Wesley: Edited by T. O. Summers, D.D. Nashville, 1857. 

The Life of Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A.: Thomas Jackson. (New York.) 
The Life of Thomas Coke, LLD.: Samuel Drew. 1817. 
The Life of Rev. John Wesley, M.A.: John Whitehead, M.D. 

The Life and Times of Bishop McKendree: Robert Paine, D.D. (2 vols.) Nashville, 1869, 
Asbury's Journal, from 1771 to 1815. (3 vols.) 

Biographical Sketchesof Eminent Itinerant Ministers : Edited by T. 0. Summers, D.D. 18o8. 
The Life of Wesley, and Rise and Progress of Methodism : Robert Southey, LLD. Amer- 
ican edition, with Notes, by D. Curry, D.D. (2 vols.) 1847. 
Cyclopedia of Methodism: M. Simpson, D.D., LLD. 1878. 
MeClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia. (10 vols.) 
A Hundred Years of Methodism: M. Simpson, D.D., LL.D. 1876. 
The Methodist Centennial Year-book: W. H. DePuy, D.D. 1883. 
A Short Manual for Centenary Year, 1884: W. P. Harrison, D.D. 
Sketches of Western Methodism: Rev. James B. Finley. 1854. 
Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon. (2 vols.) 1844. 

History of American Slavery and Methodism from 1780 to 1840: Lucius C. Matlaek. 1849. 
The Anti-slavery Struggle and Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church: L. C. Matl.aek, 
D.D.; with Introduction by D. D. Whedon, D.D. 1881. 
Memoirs and Sermons of Whitefield: By Gillies. 
Memoirs of the Wesley Family: Rev. George J. Stevenson. 187G. 
The Wesley Family : Adam Clarke. 

The Wesley Memorial Volume: Edited by J. 0. A. Clark, D.D. 1880. 

The Life and Times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley, M..'^.: Rev. L. Tyerman. 1866. 

The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A. : Rev. L. Tyerman. (3 vols. ; N. Y.) 1872. 

The Oxford Methodists : Rev. L. Tyerman. (N. Y.) 1873. 

The History of Methodism: Abel Stevens, LL.D. (3 vols.) 

The History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States of America: Abel Ste- 
vens, LL.D. (4 vols.) 

The History of Wesleyan Methodism: George Smith, F.A.S. (London.) 1857. 
Methodist Church Property Case: Official. 1851. 
American Methodism: M. L. Scudder, D.D. 1867. 
Illustrated History of Methodism: Rev. W. H. Daniels, A.M. 1880. 
•History of Methodism in Tennessee: J. B. McFerrin, D.D. (3 vols.) 1869. 
History of Methodism in Georgia and Florida: Rev. George G. Smith. 1877. 
History of Methodism in South Carolina: A. M, Shipp, D,D. 1883. 



6 



History of Methodism in Kentucky: A. H. Redford, D.D. (3 vols.) 1868. 
History of Methodism in Texas : Rev. H. S. Thrall. 1872. 
IMemorials of Methodism in Virginia: W. W. Bennett, D.D. 1871. 
Methodism in Charleston: Rev. F. A. Mood, A.M. 1856. 
Canadian Methodism: E. Ryerson, D.D., LL.D. 1882. 

Memorials of the Life of Peter Bohler: Rev. J. P. Lockvvood. (London.) 1868. 
Memoirs of James Hutton, in Connection with the United Brethren: Daniel Benham. 
(London.) 1856. 

Annals of Southern Methodism : C. F. Deems, D.D. It is to be regretted that only a few 
volumes of this convenient and valuable collection have been published. 

William Watters (the First American Itinerant): A Short Account of his Christian Expe- 
rience, etc., by himself. (Alexandria, Va.) 1SU6. 

Rise and Progress of Methodism in Europe and America : Rev. James Youngs, A.M. (Bos- 
ton.) 1830. 

A Narrative of Events Connected with the Rise and Progress of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in Virginia: Francis L. Hawks. 1836. 

Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism : Rev. W. Crook, D.D. (Dublin.) 1866. 

Life and Times of Rev. Wm. Patton: D. R. McAnaliy, D.D. 1858. 

Life of Bishop Bascom: M. M. Henkle, D.D. 1854. 

Life and Times of Rev. Jesse Lee: L. M. Lee, D.D. 1848. 

Life of Bishop Capers, D.D.: W. M. Wightman, D.D. 1858. 

Pioneers, Preachers and People, of the Mississippi Valley: W. H. Milburn, D.D. 1860. 

Methodism in its Origin and Economy: James Dixon, D.D. 1848. 

Tour in America: James Dixon, D.D. (Third edition.) 1850. 

Memoirs of Wesley's ]\Iissionaries to America: Rev. P. P. Sandford. 1843. 

Reminiscences of Rev. Henry Boehm: J. B. Wakely, D.D. 1875. 

Lost Chapters Recovered from the Early History of American Methodism: J. B. Wakely 
D.D. 1858. 

A Comprehensive History of Methodism: James Porter, D.D. 1876. 

Hand-book of Southern Methodism : Rev. P. A. Peterson. 1883. 

Pioneers of Methodism in North Carolina and Virginia: Rev. M. H. Moore. 1884. 

The Disruption of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 1844-1846: E. H. Myers, D.D. 1875 

History of the Organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. (184.5.) 

History of the Methodist Protestant Church : A. H. Bassett. (1882.) 

Proceedings of the Ecumenical Methodist Conference, held in City Road Chapel, London, 
September, 1883. Introduction by Rev. William Arthur, M..\. ; 8vo, pages 632. 

The Introduction of Protestantism into Mississippi and the South-west: Rev. J. G. Jones. 
1866. The MS. History of Methodism in Mississippi, by the same author, has been kindly 
submitted for reference, and found to be very useful. This interesting addition to our denom- 
inational literature ought to be published. 

The voluminous manuscripts and letters of the late Rev. William Winans, D.D., have been 
loaned the author by the kindness of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Winans Wall, of Louisiana. 
Dr. Winans, with his own painstaking hand, copied the letters which he wrote, even on ordi- 
nary topics, and preserved them. His times and correspondence extended through the most 
important periods of our history; and just surprise has been expressed that so long a time 
has elapsed since his death (1857) without any publication, in whole or in part, of his literary 
remains. 

The papers and correspondence of the late Bishop Soule— obligingly furnished by his 
daughter, Mrs. Conwell, of Kashville, and his nephew, Rev. Francis A. Soule, of the State of 
Kew York— have been found valuable, though not extensive. 



EONTENTS 



CHAPTER 1. 

Church Founders — Providential Instruments — The Wesley Family: Its Origin 
and Times 13-22. 

CHAPTER II. 

Moral Condition of England at the Rise of Methodism : Causes of It — Testimony 
of Secular and Religious Writers — The Effect of the Methodist Revival on the 
Churches ; Its Influence on the State 23-36. 

CHAPTER III. 

Home Training — Parsonage Life — John at School — At the University — Awak- 
enings — Studying Divinity — Predestination — Difficulties About Assurance — 
Ordination 37-53. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Fellowship — His Father's Curate — Cutting Off Acquaintances — Charles 
Wesley Awakened — The Holy Club — Whitefield and Other Members — Orig- 
inal Methodists— What Lack I Yet? 54-62. 

CHAPTER V. 

Breaking up of the Epworth Family — Death and Widowhood — The Parents — 
The Daughters and their History 63-70. 

CHAPTER VL 

The Oxford Family Broken up — Glances at the History of its Several Members — 
The Georgia Colony — Why the Wesleys went as Missionaries 71-83. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Voyage to Georgia — The Moravians — Lessons in a Storm — Reaches Savannah; 
Labors There — The Indians — A Beginning Made — The Wesleys Leave Geor- 
gia. . 84-96. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Whitefield : His Conversion and Preaching ; Goes to Savannah — Orphan Asylum : 
What was Accomplished by this Charity 97-105. 



CHAPTER IX. 

John Wesley's Experience; His Reflections — Peter Bohler: His Doctrine and 
Life — Conversion of the Two Brothers: Effect Upon their Ministry .,.106-122. 



CHAPTER X. 

Christian Experience: Its Place in Methodism — The Almost Christian — Wesley's 
Conversion ; His Testimony; — The Witness of tlie Holy Spirit — The Witness of 
Our Own Spirit — Joint Testimony to Adoption 123-141. 

(7) 



8 



Contents. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Wesley Visits Herrnhut — Experiences of the Brethren — Wesley Eeturns to 
England; Begins His Life-work — Whitefield — The Pentecostal Season — Shut 
out of the Churches — The Messengers Let Loose — Field-preaching Inaugu- 
rated 142-153. 

CHAPTER XIL 

Difficulties and Triumphs of Field-preachers — Bodily Agitations : How Accounted 
for — Active Enemies — Lukewarm Friends — The Word Prevails 154r-164. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Church Building — Titles of Property — The Foundry — Religious Societies — Fetter- 
lane — Threats of Excommunication : How Treated — Separation from the Mora- 
vians — Strange Doctrines — Stillness — Means of Grace 165-177. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Lay Preaching : How Begun ; Its Necessity and Right — Conservatism. Inwrought 
into Methodism — Qualification of the "Unlearned" Preacher 178-185. 

CHAPTER XV, 

Whitefield Returns to America — Lays the First Brick of the Orphan-house — An 
Old Friend — Concerning the Collection — Success of his Ministry — "Poor Rich- 
ard" Gives the Contents of his Wallet — Separation between Wesley and White- 
field — Painful Facts — Profitable Consequences 186-199. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Christian Fellowship Provided for — Bands, Love-feasts, Class-meetings — Origin of 
these Means of Grace — The Work Extends — Epworth — Wesley Preaches on 
his Father's Tombstone; Buries his Mother — Newcastle — Cornwall — Discipline 
— First Annual Conference — The Organization Complete 200-215. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Methodism in Ireland — Friendly Clergy — Hymn-making — Marriage of Charles 
Wesley — Education — Kingswood School — Theological and Biblical — Using the 
Press — Making and Selling Books — iMarriage of John Wesley 216-228. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Temporary Decay of Whitefield's Popularity; Visits Scotland; Third Visit to 
America — Morris's Reading-house in Virginia — Samuel Da vies — Commissary 
at Charleston tries to Suspend — No Intolerance in that Colony— South Carolina 
Unfavorable for This — Whitefield Buys a Plantation — Preaching to Negroes — 
Chaplain to Countess of Huntingdon; Among the Great 229-240. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Honorable Women not a Few — The Conversion of a Countess — ^Her Devotion to 
Methodism; Espouses the Calvinistic Side; Her Work — Chapels — Trevecca 
College— Dart moutli — Newton — An Archbishop Reproved — Forced out of the 
Establishment— Her Death 241-249. 

CHAPTER XX. 

The Opening in the Colonies — Intolerance in Virginia — Patrick Henry on the Par- 
sons — Tobacco — Whitefield's Sixth Visit — Strawbridge — First Society and First 
Methodist Meeting-house in America — Orphan-house — The Founder's Com- 
fort— Whitefield's Last Visit; his Death; his Will— Exeunt Omnes 250-260. 



Contents. 



9 



CHAPTEE XXL 

Arminian Methodism Planted — First Laborers: Strawbridge; Embury; Williams; 
King — These Irregulars Occupying the Ground and Preparing the Way — Which 
was the First — The Log Meeting-house — The Grave of Strawbridge.. .261-278. 

CHAPTEE XXII. 

The JSTew Circuit— Eight Missionaries Sent to It — What Became of Them— The War 
—Asbury Alone Left— The two Blunders— Wesley's Calm Address.. .279-292. 

CHAPTEE XXIII. ' 

Francis Asbury: His Preparation and Ministry — Troubles of Administration — 
Eevival in the Old Brunswick Circuit — Devereux Jarratt — The Preachers 
Called Out — Watters, Dromgoole, Gatch, Bruce, Ellis, Ware, and their Fellow- 
laborers 293-313. 

CHAPTEE XXiy. 

The Question of the Ordinances — Destitution — Clamor of the People for the Sac- 
raments — Deferred Settlement — Temporary Division — The Concession for 
Peace — After Long Waiting — Prospect of Supply 314-322. 

CHAPTEE XXV. 

Primitive Church Government — Philanthrophy — The Sum of all Villainies — 
Book Eeviews on Horseback — West India Missions Planted — Christian Per- 
fection — A Scheme of Absorption — The Calvinistic Controversy— Fletcher's 
Checks — Deed of Declaration — John Fletcher — Thomas Coke — Ordinations 
for America 323-344. 

CHAPTEE XXVI. 

The Christmas Conference — Events Before and After — Organization and Church 
Extension — Asbury Crossing the Mountains — Methodism Planted on the South- 
ern Frontier — on the Western, on the Northern, and in Nova Scotia. . .345- 370. 

CHAPTEE XXVII. 

The Sunday Service — Cokesbury College — Slavery and Emancipation — A New 
Term of Communion Proposed — How Eeceived — West India Missions — In- 
consistent and Hurtful Legislation — What Methodism has Done for the 
Negro 371-389. 

CHAPTEE XXVIII. 

Wesley's Eequest not Complied With — Leaving his Name Off the Minutes — The 
Offense and Eebuke — Methodist Episcopacy the First in America — True to 
the Primitive Type — Ordinations of Luther and Wesley — Charles Wesley's 
Death 390-401. 

CHAPTEE XXIX. 

The Council: Its Failure — O'Kelley's Schism — Hatnmett's — Charge of Heresy — 
General Conference of 1792 : Some of its Work — Eepublican Methodists — Presid- 
ing Elders: Their Office and its Duties Defined — John Wesley's Death .402-419. 

CHAPTEE XXX. 

Jesse Lee Enters New England — Inhospitable Eeception — The Difficulties— Gains 
a Footing — The Need of Methodism There — Asbury Confirming the Work — 
Soule, Fisk, Hedding — Boston Common' — Success — Memorial 420-436. 



10 



Contents, 



CHAPTEK XXXI. 

The Valley of the Mississippi: Occupying it— Gate-way to the North-west and 
the South-west — Indian Troubles — Asbury Crossing the Wilderness — Bethel 
Academy — Kentucky — Tennessee — Three Local Preachers Shaping Ohio — 
Missionaries— McHenry, Burke, Wilkerson, Page, Tobias Gibson, Valentine 
Cook 437-463. 

CIIAPTEE XXXII. 

Annual Conferences — Boundaries and Powers Established — Locations — Chartered 
Fund — Proposal to Strengthen the Episcopacy Fails — Asbury's Health 
Gives Way — Helpers — Whatcoat Consecrated Bishop — McKendree in the 
West 464-480. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

William McKendree: His Entrance upon the Ministry; Transferred to the West 
—Camp-meetings — Great Eevival — Bodily Agitations — Methodism Planted 
in Missouri and Illinois; in Mississippi and Louisiana — Philip Cox, Enoch 
George, Gwin, Walker, Blackman — Conference in Ohio — Eesults 481-504. 

CHAPTEE XXXIV. 

General Conferences of 1804 and 1808 — Demand for a Delegated Body — Camp- 
meetings in the East — Prosperity — Bishop Whatcoat's Death — McKendree 
Elected — Joshua Soule Brings in a Plan for a Delegated General Conference: 
Its Defeat; Its Subsequent Adoption — Death of Bishop Coke; His Burial at 
Sea 505-519. 

CHAPTEE XXXV. 

Extending the Field in Illinois and Missouri — Winans — Negro Missions — Olin — 
McKendree's New Method of Presiding — Asbury Takes Final Leave of 
the Conferences: State of the Western Field on his Departure — Asbury's 
Death 520-531. 

CHAPTEE XXXVI. 

Canada Methodism: The Planting and the Separation — Clergy Eeserves — Eyer- 
son — Case — Bangs — Losee — Church Union in the Dominion — New Eules — 
Joshua Soule Book Agent — Enoch George and E. E. Eoberts elected Bishops 
— A Conference down the Mississippi, organized in 1816 532-538. 

CHAPTEE XXXVII. 

Difficulties of Planting Methodism in the South-west — Useful Local Preachers and 
Laymen — Vick, Bowman, Tooley, Ford, French — From Tombigbee to Attaka- 
pas — Nolley's Death — Occupation of New Orleans — Three Conferences — Lasley, 
Griffin, Drake, Sellers, Hearn, Hewit, Nixon, Shrock, Owens 539-562. 

CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 

Missionary and Tract Societies Formed — African Churches Organized — Education 
— Joshua Soule Eesigns an Election — Constitutional Questions — McKendree's 
Position — Methodist Protestants — Soule and Hedding Elected Bishops — Capers, 
Emory, Waugh, Bascom, Fisk — Canada Methodism set off 563-575. 

CHAPTEE XXXIX. 

Indian Missions Established — Wyandots, Muskogees, Choctaws, Cherokees, Flat- 
heads — The Indian Mission Conference — Missions to Negro Slaves — The Begin- 
ning and Progress of Plantation Missions: Difficulties of this Work. .576-590= 



Contents. 



11 



CHAPTEE XL. 

James O. Andrew — John Emory — Foreign Missions Inaugurated — Liberia — Bra- 
zil — Coxe — Pitts — Education — Colleges: Eandolph Macon; La Grange; Dick- 
inson ; Wilbraham ; Madison ; Alleghany — John P. Durbin — Thomas A. Morris 
— Death of McKendree : Taking Leave of his Brethren 591-600. 

CHAPTEE XLI. 

The Struggle and Defeat of Abolitionism in the Church — Presiding Elders in the 
Conflict — General Conference Eefuses to Change the Discipline — Eestates its 
\ Position — Despairing to Accomplish their Pur|)ose, Abolitionists Secede — The 
Wesleyan Methodist Church Organized — Peace and Prosperity. .... .601-612. 

CHAPTEE XLII. 

Texas Independence — The Eepublic Open to the Gospel — First Missionaries; 
Enter, Fowler, Alexander — Alexander First and Last in the Field — Arkansas ; 
Pioneers: William Stephenson, Henry Stevenson — Local Preachers: Alford, 
Kinney, Denton, the Orr Brothers — Organization of Texas Conference — Ap- 
pointments — Centenary Year — Progress of the Church — General Missionary 
Secretaries: Bangs, Capers, Ames 613-617. 

CHAPTEE XLIII. 

The Situation — Abolitionism a Failure in the Church, a Success Outside of it- — 
Meeting of General Conference in 1844 — Proceedings in Bishop Andrew's 
Case — The Griffith Eesolution; The Finley Substitute; Drift of Debate; Ex- 
tracts from a few Speeches — The Final Vote — The Protest — The Plan of Sep- 
aration 618-640. 

CHAPTEE XLIV. 

The Louisville Convention — First General Conference — Book Agency — New 
Hymn-book — Bishops Capers and Paine — Troubles with the Plan in the 
North — Fraternal Delegate and Business Commissioners — Eejected — Ap- 
pealing unto Csesar — Supreme Court Declares the Plan of Separation Valid, 
and Enforces it — Southern Methodist Publishing House — Separation — Peace — 
Prosperity , 641-651. 

CHAPTEE XLV. 

California — Conference on the Pacific Coast — Foreign Missions — China — General 
Conference of 1850 — Bishop Bascom: His Death — Bishops Pierce, Early, and 
Kavanaugh — Education — The Old Controversy Transferred to the North : How 
it Ended — Saved by War from an Impending Disaster , 652-663. 

CHAPTEE XLVI. 

Civil War: Some of its Effects upon the Charch, South — Numbers and Strength 
Diminished — Peace Eestored — Address of the Bishops — General Conference of 
1866 — Eesuscitation — Legislation — Flourishing Condition of the Church, North, 
in the Meantime — Lay Delegation — District Conferences — Constitutional Test 
— What Became of the Negro Membership of the Church, South — Foreign 
Missions— Education— General Conferences from 1870 to 1882 664-678. 

CHAPTEE XLVII. 

The Era of Fraternity: Correspondence Anent it — Deputations — Delegates — Joint 
Commission at Cape May — Status and Basis Definitely Declared — Property 
Claims Adjusted — Ecumenical Conference — City Eoad Chapel — London Meth- 
odists — Centennary Celebration at Baltimore — From 1784 to 1884. . .679-686. 



Appendix: Methodists Throughout the World — Eeligious Denominations in 
the United States 687-688. 




i 



History of Methodism. 



••••••llll^llllln. 

CHAPTER I. 

Churcli Founders — Providential Instruments — The Wesley Family: Its Origin 

and Times. 

IT was not new doctrine but new life the first Methodists 
sought for themselves and for others. To realize in the 
hearts and conduct of men the true ideal of Christianity, to main- 
tain its personal experience, and to extend it — this was their de- 
sign; and their system of government grew up out of this, and 
was accordingly shaped by it. 

The mission of Luther was to reform a corrupted Christianity; 
that of Wesley, to revive a dying one. Lutheranism dealt more 
with controversy; Wesleyanism, with experience. The abuses 
and errors of Rome, its defiant attitude and oppressive rule, made 
combatants of the Reformers. Their prayer was, "Teach my 
hands to war, and my fingers to fight." The Methodists came 
forth as evangelists. They persuaded men. With existing insti- 
tutions and creeds they had no quarrel. " In their bosoms there 
was no rankling grudge against authorities; there was no particle 
of that venom which, wherever it lodges, infects and paralyzes 
the religious affections." Their controversy was not with Church 
or State authorities, but with sin and Satan; and their one object 
was to save souls. 

The way of reformers is to begin by finding fault with others. 
" We begin," they said, " by finding fault with ourselves." Meth- 
odists never sympathized with those who deny the "form of god- 
liness: " it is decent in their eyes and useful, and they cared for 
it; but they were more careful to have "the power thereof." 

Whenever the Lord would do a work in the earth, a man is got 
ready; and the study of that man and of his providential prepa- 
ration is a fit introduction to the history of the work. St. Paul's 
truism, " For every house is builded by some man," is not con- 
tradicted by what follows — "but he that built all things is God." 
The word founder grates harshly upon some ears when it is ap- 

(13) 



14 



History of Methodism. 



plied to the Church, but ecclesiastical history justifies it. With- 
out irreverence, and without derogating from the honor of its 
divine Head, men may be called founders of those various sects 
by which the Church is seen to exist in the world. . Such instru- 
ments God has raised up all along the ages, and their lives and 
labors have made eras. "The Lord built him a Solomon, that 
Solomon might build him a house;" and Solomon's genius 
was seen in every part of the sacred Temple. The Lutheran, 
Presbyterian, Congregational, Protestant Episcopal, Moravian, 
and Baptist Churches all bear the impress of those master-build- 
ers who, under God, shaped their polity, formulated their creeds, 
and illustrated their spirit. 

If the four Gospels show the individuality of their inspired 
authors, and the style of the man is seen in the deliverance of 
the apostle, we may not be surprised if the character of founders 
can be traced in the religious bodies to which they stand thus 
providentially related. This admission of the human element is 
agreeable to the divine origin and authority of the Church. Its 
truths abide, its principles change not, for they are of God; but 
the bringing them to bear upon the world, for its salvation, ac- 
cording to times and circumstances, is of human devising under 
the promise of gracious guidance. Bible doctrines cannot be 
increased or diminished; but they may be arranged and pre- 
sented with more or less force, clearness, and consistency by the 
various schools of religious thought whose nomenclature testifies 
to their parentage. 

The history of Methodism cannot be given without a biography 
of John Wesley. To him belongs the distinction of Founder. 
Great men by a natural laAv come forward in groups; but to in- 
sure the success and unity of a movement, there must be a soli- 
tary preeminence. While Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, 
John Fletcher, and Thomas Coke were mighty auxiliaries, it is 
around John Wesley that the religious movement of the eighteenth 
century, called Methodism, centers. He was born June 17, 1703 
— the son of Samuel Wesley, rector of Epworth, in Lincolnshire, 
England. 

The founder of Methodism makes once an allusion to his 
"grandfather's father" — Bartholomew. It was during the 
closing years of the long reign of Elizabeth that Bartholomew 
Wesley was born — about the year 1600. While at the university 



The Wesley Famihj. 15 

he applied himself to the study of physic, as well as of diviuity; 
and the knowledge which he acquired was of great advantage to 
him in the dark days of his after-life. In 1640 he was inducted 
to the rectory of Charmouth, and in 1650 to that of Catherston; 
both of which he held until 1662, when, having espoused the side 
of the Puritans, Bartholomew Wesley, like many others, was 
driven from his rectories by the Act of Uniformity. After this, 
though he preached occasionally, he had to support himself and 
his family by the practice of physic."^ 

At the restoration of the Stuarts in the person of Charles II. 
(1661), the High-church party, with king and court on their side, 
set about the suppression of Presbyterians, Independents, and 
all Non-conformists. The Act of Uniformity was enforced in its 
rigor, and upward of two thousand ministers, with their fami- 
lies, were ejected from their livings. 

A glance at some of the ministers ejected and silenced shows 
how this act impoverished the pulpit of that day: Edmund Cala- 
my, who studied at the rate of sixteen houi^s a day, and was one 
of the most popular preachers in the capitol; Matthew Pool, who 
spent ten years upon his " Synopsis Criticorum," in five volumes 
folio; John Goodwin, the Arminian author of "Redemption 
Redeemed;" John Owen, Stephen Charnock, John Flavel; Eich- 

*The author of ''Memorials of the AVesley Family'' has gone back of that: 
"The father of Bartholomew* AVesley was Sir Herbert AVestley, of Westleigh, in 
the county of Devon. His mother was Elizabeth de Wellesley, of Dangan, in 
Ireland. What we have hitherto known of this distinguished family has marked 
them as remarkable for learning, piety, poetry, and music. We must now add 
these other equally peculiar characteristics, loyalty and chivalry. Taking one 
step only backward in tracing their genealogy, we find in both the father and 
motlier of Bartholomew "Wesley persons who were permitted intercourse with the 
leading minds of the age, and who were privileged to take an active part in mold- 
ing that age in its moral, religious, and social aspects. A knight of the shire 
was a person of distinction and influence. The issue of the marriage of Sir Her- 
bert and Elizabeth "Wesley was three sons, named respectively W^illiam, Harphan, 
and Bartholomew. The two elder of these appear to have died without issue. 
Bartholomew married the daughter of Sir Henry CoUey, of Kildare, Ireland. In 
person he was of small stature; called 'the puny parson.' The average height of 
the W^esleys was from five feet four to five feet six inches. Between this limited 
range stood Samuel "Wesley, rector of Epworth, and his two sons, John and Charles. 
The same standard of height characterizes those descendants of the family who 
still survive, belonging to the Epworth branch." And John says of himself: "In 
the year 1769 I weighed one hundred and twenty-two pounds; in the year 17S3 I 
weighed not a pound more nor a pound less." 



16 History of Methodism. 

ard and Joseph Alleine, whose well-known practical writings have 
been blessed to thousands; Eichard Baxter, Philip Henry, and 
John Howe. 

By Act of Uniformity it was provided that "every parson, 
vicar, or other minister whatsoever, now enjoying any ecclesias- 
tical benefice or promotion, within this realm of England," who 
neglected or refused to declare publicly, before his congregation, 
his " unfeigned assent and consent to the use of all things con- 
tained and prescribed" in the Book of Common Prayer, before 
the feast of St. Bartholomew (1662), should be deprived of his 
place. All school-masters who refused to subscribe to this dec- 
laration were to suffer three months' imprisonment. It also 
provided that if any minister, not episcopally ordained, should 
presume to administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper after 
St. Bartholomew's day (August 24), he should, for every such 
offense, forfeit the sum of XlOO ; and if he presumed to lecture 
or preach in any church, chapel, or other place of worship what- 
ever, within the realm of England, he should suffer three months' 
imprisonment in the common jail. 

In 1664 the Conventicle Act was passed, which provided that 
" every person above sixteen years of age present at any meeting 
of more than five persons besides the household, under a pretense 
of any exercise of religion, in other manner than is the practice 
of the Church of England, shall, for the first offense, be sent to 
gaol three months, till he pay a £5 fine; for the second offense, 
six months, till he pay a XIO fine; and for the third offense, be 
transported to some of the American plantations." To complete 
the triumph of the oppressor, and to deprive both ministers and 
people of any comfort, as Non-conformists, Parliament in 1665 
added outrage to injury, by passing the execrable Five Mile Act, 
which provided that it should be a penal offense for any Non-con- 
formist minister to teach in a school, or to come within five miles 
(except as a traveler in passing) of any city, borough, or corpo- 
rate town, or of any place in which he had preached or taught 
since the passing of the Act of Uniformity. 

In 1673 the Test Act was passed, which provided that all who 
refused to take the oaths and to receive the sacrament, accord- 
ing to the rites of the Church of England, should be debarred 
from public employment. This was the last turn of the screw. 
The Eevolution of 1688 dethroned the Stuarts, and the Act of 



The Wesley FamlJ//. 



17 



Toleration became law in 1689, securing liberty in the worship 
of God to Protestant Dissenters. 

John, the only son of the ejected Bartholomew Wesley, was 
born about the year 1636. Even when a boy at school he had 
deep religious convictions and began to keep a diary of " God's 
gracious dealings " wdth him, which, with slight interruptions, 
was continued to the end of his life. At the usual age he was 
entered a student of Oxford and became M.A. At one time he 
strongly wished to go as a missionary to Maryland, in America. 
Probably the expense of such a journey presented difficulties 
which he found it impossible to surmount. He was never epis- 
copally ordained, but was ordained in the same way as Timothy 
— by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, and possibly 
without even that much ceremony. He passed his examination 
before Cromwell's "Triers," and was appointed to a living in 
May, 1658. A man of "gifts and grace," his ministry was the 
means of converting sinners in every place in which it was exer- 
cised, and he preached in many places. Under the persecutions 
that followed the Restoration, he w^as four times imprisoned, one 
imprisonment extending till very near the day when the Act of 
Uniformity finally expelled both father and son. He -came joy- 
fully home, and preached each Lord's-day till August 17, 1662, 
when he delivered his farewell sermon to a weeping audience, 
from Acts xx. 32: "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, 
and to the word of his grace." John Wesley died about the age 
of forty-three, and left behind him two sons, Samuel and Mat- 
thew, and a faithful w^ife who remained his widow for half a 
century. 

Dr. A. Clarke calls attention to the fact that the grandfather of 
the founder of Methodism was a lay preacher and an itinerant 
evangelist. Indeed, we find in this John Wesley's history an 
epitome of the later Methodism. Samuel, his son, was educated 
at the Free School at Dorchester. Young Wesley remained here 
until he was a little more than fifteen years of age, when he was 
sent t3 an academy in London, Avhere he continued until he had 
nearly arrived at the age of twenty-one. He came into the world 
four months after that dark day of St. Bartholomew, when his 
father and his grandfather, with two thousand other godly 
ministers of Christ, were ejected from their churches and driven 
from their homes. Like them he was intended for the Christian 



18 



Historu of Method isiih 



ministry; but, considering tlie treatment ^vliicli tliey had experi- 
enced at the liands of the episcopal party, it was scarcely probable 
that their youthful descendant would feel a wish to enter the min- 
istry of the Established Church. His father and his grandfathers, 
though they had all been the occupants of Church livings, were, 
so far as prelacy and the use cf the liturgy are concerned. Dis- 
senters; and his sympathies were Avith them. He acknowledges 
that when at the Dissenters' School "he vras forward enough to 
write lampoons and pasquils against Church and State;" "was 
fii'ed with hopes of suffering;*' *'and often Avished to be brought 
before kings and rulers, because he thought what he did was done 
for the sake of Christ.*' Subsequently, l^y a course of reading 
and reasoning, he was led to change his opinions, and formed 
a resolution to renounce the Dissenters and attach himself to 
ihe Established Church. 

He lived at that time with his mother and an old aunt, both of 
whom were too strougly attached to the Dissenting doctrines to 
have borne, with any patience, the disclosure of his design. He 
therefore got up early one mornir^g. and, without acquainting 
any cne with his })uri ^;)r:e. set out for Oxford, and entered him- 
self at Exeter Collt:^ge. To ride to college was a thing net to bo 
thought of : to use his own expression, he '' roofed if." His Ijcoks, 
his clotlies. and liis otlier iuggp.ge, were all i^robably carried in 
a knapsack un his back. Samuel Wesley entered college as a 
seri'ifor. A "servitor" is a student who attends and waits c]i 
other f-ch'dars or -tudents. and receives, as a compensation, his" 
maintcn:ince. Such was ilie po^it:un of young AVesley. He was 
determined to secure the benetits of a university education; and. 
in the absence of money and of friends, he became a servant ii: 
order to fuid himself bread. There was no disgrace in this; and 
yet it is not difficult to imagine that, notwithstanding his clever- 
ness, he would bf -iilvjected to taunts from beardless youths, 
who, in all respects t-xcept one, Avere his inferiors. A young man, 
twenty-one years of age, respectably connected, but poor as pov- 
erty could make him, he resolved upon the acquisition of aca- 
demic fame; and, in the struggle, patiently, if not cheerfully, 
submitted to annoyances for the sake of obtaining that upon 
which his heart was set. Besides attending to the humiliating 
duties of a servitor, he composed exercises for those who had 
more money than mind, and gave instructions to others whr 



The We sir [I FaniiJij. 



19 



wished to profit by liis lessons; and tlms, by toil and frugality, 
the fatherless and friendless scholar not only managed to sn^D- 
port himself, but when he retired from Oxford, in 1688, with 
B.A. attached to his name, he was seven ponnds fifteen shillings 
richer than he was when he entered it in 1683. Xor is this all. 
AYhilst occupied with his daily duties, his benevolent heart 
would not permit him to live wholly to himself. He yearned to 
oenefit others; and it is a remarkable coincidence that the ob- 
jects of his sympathy were of the same class as those who, forty- 
five years afterward, were visited and helped by his sons, John 
and Charles, and the other Oxford Methodists. " Xotwithstand- 
ing the weightiness of his college work, and the lightness of his 
college purse," he found time to visit the wretched inmates of 
Oxford jail, and relieved them as far as he Avas able. Writing 
to his two sons, in 1730, when they had begun of their own ac- 
cord to visit the same prison-house, he says: "Go on, in God's 
name, in the path to which your Saviour has directed you, and 
that track wherein your father has gone before you; for when 
I was an undergraduate at Oxford I visited those in the castle 
there, and reflect on it with great satisfaction to this day. Walk 
as prudently as you can, though not fearfully, and m}' heart and 
prayers are with you." ^ 

Samuel Wesley was ordained a priest of the Church of En- 
gland in 1689, twelve days after the Prince and Princess of 
Orange were declared by Parliament to be King and Queen of 
Great Britain. As a proof of his loyalty, he wrote the first de- 
fense of the government that appeared after AYilliam and Mary's 
accession. At the time he entered upon his ministerial career, 
there were in the English Church some of the most distin- 
guished divines that it has ever had: Stillingfleet; Tillotson, 
whose sermons were regarded as a standard of finished oratory; 
Thomas Kenn, author of the "Morning and Evening Hymns;" 
Robert South, AYilliam Fleetwood; Gilbert Burnet, author of 
the '-'History of the Eeformation; " William Beveridge; Daniel 
Whitby, who, in 1703, published in two volumes folio his " Con>- 
mentary on the New Testament." 

Samuel Wesley's first appointment was a curacy, with an in- 
come of £28 a year. He Avas then appointed chaplain on board 
a man-of-war, where he began his poem on the Life of Christ. 



-The Life and Times of Rev. Samuel AVesley, M.A. 



20 



History of Methodism. 



His ecclesiastical income for these few years' services tliat lie 
rendered was small, but lie increased the amount by his indus- 
try and writings. It was while he held such uncertain posi- 
tions that he married, he and his wife living in lodgings 
until after the birtli of their first-born. The young lady who 
became his wife Avas Susanna, the youngest and twenty-fourth 
child of her mother, and the twenty-fifth child of her father, Dr. 
Samuel Annesley, one of the leading Non-conformist ministers 
of London.* 

Susanna Annesley, in person, is said to have been both grace- 
ful and beautiful. The accomplishments of her mind were of the 
highest order, and for womanly virtues she has probably never 
been surpassed. She became the mother of nineteen children, 
and was remarkable for her system and success in teaching and 
training them. "No man," says Southey, "was ever more suit- 
ably mated than Samuel Wesley. The wife whom he chose was, 
like himself, the child of a man eminent among the Non-conform- 
ists; and, like himself, in early life she had chosen her own path. 
.... She had reasoned herself into Socinianism, from which her 
husband reclaimed her. She was an admirable Avoman, an obedient 
wife, an exemplary mother, and a fervent Christian. The mar- 
riage was blessed in all its circumstances; it was contracted in 
the prime of their youth; it was fruitful; and death did not di- 
vide them till they were both full of days." 

The mother of Samuel Wesley was the daughter of a distin- 
guished and learned man, John White, a " perpetual fellow " of 
one of Oxford's oldest colleges. She was the niece of another 

"^He was born in 1G20, and closed a useful ministry of fifty-five years in 1696. 
From his early childhood his heart was set on preaching; and, to cjualify himself 
for that sacred work, he began, when he was only five or six years old, seriously 
to read the Bible; and such was his ardor that he bound himself to read twenty 
chapters daily, a practice which he continued to the end of life. At fifteen years 
of age he Avent to Oxford, where he took tlie degree of LL.D. In 1648 he 
preached the fast-day sermon before the House of Commons, which by order was 
l^rinted. He had two of the largest congregations in London. Samuel Annesley 
was of so' hale and hardy a constitution as to endure the coldest weather without 
using either gloves or fire. For many years he seldom drank any thing but water, 
and, to the day of his death, he could read the smallest print without spectacles. 
A short time before he died his joy was such that he exclaimed, "I cannot con- 
tain it! What manner of love is this to a poor worm? I cannot express the 
thousandth part of the praise due to Christ. I'll praise thee, and rejoice that 
there are others that can praise thee better." His last words were: "I shall be 
satisfied Avlien I awake in Thy likeness — satisfied, satisfied." 



The Wesley Family. 



21 



man of mark, the celebrated Dr. Thomas Fuller, the Church 
historian. It is an interesting fact that the father of Susanna 
Wesley's mother was named John White, also. He entered Ox- 
ford at seventeen. In 1640 he was elected Member of Parlia- 
ment, and joined in all the proceedings which led to the over- 
throw of the Established Church. He was appointed chairman 
of the Committee for Religion, and was also a member of the 
Westminster Assembly of Divines. In a speech of his, made 
in the House of Commons and published in 1641, he contends 
that the office of bishop and presbyter is the same; and that the 
offices of chancellors, vicars, surrogates, and registrars are all 
of human origin and ought to be abolished, as being altogether 
superfluous and of no service to the Church; that episcopacy 
had been intrusted with the care of souls for more than eighty 
years; and now, as a consequence, nearly four-fifths of the 
churches throughout the kingdom were held by idle or scandal- 
ous ministers. And what though such ministers be reported to 
tlieir bishops? The most they got, he said, was a mild reproof; 
whereas the same bishops were quick-sighted and keen-scented 
to hunt down any man that preached the true gospel, and to 
silence or expel him. — These tvfo John Whites do not appear to 
have been akin to each other, but their blood met in the founder 
of Methodism. 

The first home of Samuel and Susanna Wesley was South 
Ormsby. Withdrawn from London, and settled down to the se- 
clusion of a small country village, he had ample opportunity to 
study, read, write, and preach. He was then twenty-eight years 
old, and his wife was in her twenty-second year, with their infant 
son Samuel just turned four months old. The rectory-house 
was little better than a mud-built hut, and in that hovel Samuel 
Wesley and his noble young wife lived five years. Here the 
rector's wife brought him one child additional every year, and 
did her best to make X50 per annum go as far as possible; and 
here he v/rote some of the most able works he ever published. 
The work by which he is best known was published in 1693, and 
entitled, "The Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. A heroic poem in ten books, dedicated to her Most 
Sacred Majesty Queen Mary." The queen, to whom it was ded- 
icated, conferred on him the living of Epworth, in the county of 
Lincoln, "without any solicitation on his part, or without his 



22 



History of Methodism. 



once tliiiikiiig of siicli a favor." The living was in itself a good 
one, being worth, in the currency of those times, about £200 a 
year, and Samuel Wesley's family was already large. He was in 
debt, and the fees necessary to be paid before entering on the 
living added to his debt. On his tombstone it is inscribed that 
he was thirty-nine years rector of that parislf. 

John Wesley was born there, June 17, 1703, and his brother 
Charles, December 18, 1708. It was a great advantage to have 
had such an ancestry; the laws of heredity could hardly present 
a richer and finer combination. Greater still was the advantage 
of being born and brought up under the influences of the Ep- 
worth parsonage. It was a household that seems to have been 
providentially constituted for preparing chosen instruments. 
The moral elevation and intellectual vigor of the father and an 
elder brother, the refining power of variously gifted sisters, the 
uncommon mother, the honest struggles with poverty, and the 
opportune openings for such higher education as could not be 
imparted at home, all conspired to prepare instruments " fit for 
the kingdom of God." 



CHAPTER IL 



Moral Condition of England at the Eise of Methodism: Causes of It — Testimony 
of Secular and Keligious Writers — The Effect of the Methodist Eevival on 
the Churches; Its Influence on the State. 

THE beginning of the Eeformation was Justification by 
Faitli; but this truth was, to a lamentable degree, soon lost 
sight of in the struggle it brought on with the power of popery. 
Ecclesiastical revolution, more than evangelical revival, occupied 
men's minds; and instead of purifying and strengthening the life 
of tlie Church, the question was who should dis^^ense its patron- 
age, and what forms of worship might be allowed. Historical 
precedents and even apostolic teachings were invoked mainly to 
silence adversaries. Moral power was lost; spiritual aggression 
ceased; " and in the course of fifty years Protestantism had reached 
its farthest conquest in Western Europe, and even began to lose 
ground." There was lack of internal energy to push its first ad- 
vantages; and a xelapse into formalism followed, of which the 
best that could be said was — it was not papal formalism. 

This imperfection in the Reformation on the Continent was not 
lessened by the manner of its introduction into England. That 
libidinous and cruel monarch, Henry VIII., was probably not 
much attracted by its spiritual aspect; but he was well pleased 
with a doctrine that justified him in repudiating the pope. Thus 
he himself became head of the Established Church in his own 
realm, and got good riddance of a horde of foreign ecclesiastics 
hard to govern and greedy of revenues. 

The truth of God will make its way even under many and 
heavy disadvantages. Two years later (1536) an English version 
of the Bible was first printed; and the doctrines of the Reforma- 
tion were about this time faithfully preaclied by Cranmer, Ridley, 
Latimer, and other pious ministers. During the short reign of 
Edv/ard VI. the reformed doctrines obtained extensive influence, 
and copies of the Scriptures were circulated as freely as the state 
of learning and the circumstances of the people would allow. 
Thirty-five editions qI the New Testament and fourteen of the 
complete Bible were printed and published in England during 
the six years and a half of the young king's reign. 

(23) 



24 



Hhtory of Methodism. 



The dawning hope which these propitious circumstances justi- 
fied was obscured by the death of this prince and the accession 
of Mary (1553). She restored the papal authority. Hooper, 
Cranmer, Eidley, Latimer, and many others, were burned; and 
hundreds more perished in loathsome prisons and by various 
other hardships and tortures. 

Mary died, and Elizabeth ascended the throne (1558). Her 
grand purpose appears to have been to reestablish the Reforma- 
tion; and so far as legislation can change the religion of a country, 
this was accomplished, and the whole form of religion was estab- 
lished substantially as it is found at present in the English 
Church.^^" With the accession of Elizabeth gospel truth was 
again preached; but on the settlement of the national Church, not 
a few of the most pious and spiritually-minded of the Protest- 
ants were lost to her x^nlpits, because so many rites and usages, 
which they deemed remnants of popery, were retained. A high 
Puseyite authority says : " The Protestant confession was drawn up 
with the purpose of including Catholics; "f and thus two wrongs 
were perpetrated: elements of antichristian error were retained, 
and conscientious followers of Christ were excluded. Notwith- 
standing this, there was a great circulation of gospel truth, which 
germinated and produced fruit during that and the following 
generations. 

The rapid growth of Puritanism during this reign greatly con- 
tributed to the events which afterw^ard occurred. Much popular 
discontent prevailed v»dth the but j^artial purification of the 
Church from papal errors, and Puritanism began its work of pro- 
test, reformation, and honest rebellion. 

The death of Elizabeth (1603) ended the Tudor dynasty and 
placed James L, of the house of Stuart, on the throne of En- 
gland, and brought it and Scotland under the same king. This 
reign gave the world the present English Bible — an incalculable 
benefit to the advancement of religion. It also furnished the 
Book of Sports by royal declai:ation (1618), for the j^nrpose of 

* But tlie depth of tlris outward change is best seen in the fact that out of nine 
thousand four hundred beneficed clergymen in the kingdom, only fifteen bishops, 
twelve archdeacons, fifteen heads of colleges, fifty canons, and eighty parocliial 
priests — in all one hundred and seventy-two persons — quitted their preferments 
rather than change their religion from the extreme j^opery of Mary's reign to 
vrhat is called the thorough Protestantism of that of Elizabeth. 

f Oxford Tracts for the Times, Xo. XC. 



Moral Condition of England. 



25 



promoting Sunday amusements. By this means free and full 
liberty and encouragement were given for the " dancing of men 
and women, archery for men, leaping, vaulting, May-games, 
"Whitsun-ales, morris-dancers, May-poles, and other sports, after 
the Church services on Sundays." And his majesty's pleasure 
was declared to be that the bishops should take measures for 
constraining the people to conform to these practices. 

Charles I. succeeded his father (1625) ; weak in judgment, pas- 
sionate in temper, and obstinate in disposition. Like all his 
family, he was fond of arbitrary government, and had an evident 
partiality for popery. His queen was a papist. This king found 
himself an heir to huge debts, and all the embarrassments which 
royal wants involve. Unskillful in government, he soon became 
embroiled in difficulties with his Parliament. That typical Higli- 
churchman, Archbishop Laud, was his trusted counselor and his 
chief calamity. Through the piety and energy of the Puritans, 
and the zeal for Calvinistic tenets with which they novv began to 
be inflam.ed, the people were to a greater extent than ever hostile 
to the State Church, and disposed to regard the government 
which patronized and sustained it as partial and unjust. Laud 
urged his royal master to exasperating persecutions and consci- 
entiously encouraged his popish proclivities. The civil v/ars 
began, and both lost their heads. . 

The House of Commons was now the government. • The Pres- 
byterians were paramount in it, and proceeded to remodel the 
Church on the plan of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. 
It was ordered that the Solemn League and Covenant should be 
taken by all persons above the age of eighteen; and, as this in- 
strument bound all who received it to endeavor to extirpate Epis- 
copal Church government, its enforcement led to the ejection of 
one thousand six hundred beneficed clergymen from their livings. 
But if we may rely on the testimony of Burnet, Baxter, and others, 
all the ejections of the period did not take place on political or secta- 
rian grounds, many having been occasioned by the gross ignorance, 
shameful neglect of duty, or notorious immorality of the ministers. 

Puritanism, with all its virtues, had strong and persistent vices. 
It early created a Higli-churchism of its own, and claimed as ex- 
clusive scriptural authority for presbytery as its Episcopal antag- 
onists, "the judicious Hooker" and others, have asserted for 
prelacy. There v\^as, indeed, scarcely any part of ecclesiastical 



26 



Ilistori/ of Methodism. 



polity, excei)t prelacy, against which Puritans had inyeighed 
when in subjection that they did not adopt and practice when 
in power. Milton declares that the men who had preached so 
earnestly against the avarice and pluralities of bishops and other 
ministers, as soon as they had the poYv'er, began to practice with 
the most grasping cupidity all the abuses which they had con- 
demned. Those Avho had pleaded so earnestly for liberty of con- 
science, and who had deprecated the interference of the civil jDowers 
in matters purely religious, now that they were at the helm of 
affairs, were of another mind. 

Oliver Cromwell and the predominant element of the army 
leaned to Independenc}^, and coming into supreme power he x^ro- 
claimed and practiced freedom to worshix3 God. The nation was 
weary of intestine strife; and, without having obtained civil liberty 
by the bloody struggle, sat down contentedly under his sway, in the 
enjoyment of religious toleration. The transfer of jDower from 
the Presb}H;erian to the Independent bod}^ does not appear to have 
made any immediate alteration in the organization of the State 
Church, beyond a device that deprived presbyteries of the right 
of approving or rejecting ministers. The Protector appointed 
thirty-eight persons, whom he called "Triers," selected from the 
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Independents, who 
Vvere to examine and receive all candidates for the ministry. 
Their instructions required them to judge whether they could 
approve every such person, for "the grace of God in him., his 
holy and unblamable conversation, as also for his knowledge and 
utterance, able and fit to preach the gospel." Five of these com- 
missioners Vv^ere sufficient to approve a minister. 

The Commonwealth proceeded to i:)rohibit immorality by law. 
Yice v\'as punished with Draconian severity. Adultery was a 
capital crime for the first offense. Fornication was punished 
with three months' imprisonment for the first offense; for the 
second, vrith death. Public amusements, from masques in the 
mansions of the great down to wrestling and grinning matches 
on village greens, were vigorously attacked. All the May-poles 
in England were ordered to be hewn doAvn, the play-houses dis- 
mantled, the spectators fined, and the actors whipped at the cart's 
tail. Magistrates dispersed festive meetings, and put fiddlers in 
the stocks. The external appearance of religion was so rigidly 
enforced as to be largely productive of hj-pocrisy. 



Moral Condition of EngJniul. 



27 



Under the Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell extended his coun- 
try's prowess and wealth. The stern virtues of his Eonndheads 
and Ironsides made themselves felt at home and abroad. Effem- 
inate vice became unfashionable, and much was done during this 
period to promote and establish a thoroughly Protestant feeling 
and judgment, and to extend real religion among the people. But 
the country, at length, became impatient of enduring this govern- 
ment. The people saw that they had only changed an heredi- 
tary monarchy for the rule of an absolute governor, and this con- 
viction prepared the way for the Restoration. On the death of 
Cromwell, his son Richard was declared Lord Protector in his 
stead; but the reins of power soon fell from his feeble grasp. He 
retired into private life, and Charles II., eldest son of the late 
king, was placed on the throne. 

One of the most fatal errors ever made in political affairs was 
committed in the hasty restoration of this monarch. If ordinary 
caution had been used, the constitutional liberty of the country 
might have been placed on a firm foundation. But this favor- 
able opportunity was thrown away. Instead of being restored 
under such guarantees as were calculated to secure the liberty 
of the subject and the freedom of religion, Charles was placed 
on the throne with such precipitancy that the event assumed 
rather the appearance of a triumph of those principles and prac- 
tices which caused the ruin of his father. 

B}' order of Parliament the Solemn League and Covenant,"^ the 
well-kno^m symbol of Presbyterian ascendency — ^whicli had been 
taken down from the walls of the House of Commons — was burned 
by the common hangman; the hangman first tearing the docu- 

■^Tlie Solemn League and Covenant Avas a- contract agreed to by the Scots, in the 
year 163S. In 1643 it was brought into England; and it was enacted, by a joint 
ordinance of both Houses of Parliament, "that the League and Covenant should 
be solemnly taken and subscribed, in all places throughout the kingdom of En- 
gland and dominion of Wales, by all persons above the age of eighteen." Accord- 
ingly, it was signed by most of the members of the tAvo houses of legislature, by aD 
the Divines of the Assembly then sitting at "Westminster, and by a large number of 
the X3eople in general. Two of the principal vows were: 1. That tlie party takim-; 
and subscribing the Covenant would endeavor to " bring the Churches of God in all 
llie three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confes- 
don of faith, and form of Church government, as the [Presbyterian] Directory pre- 
Ecribes for worship and catechising." And, 2. That he would "endeavor, without 
respect of persons, to extirpate popery and prelacy — that is to say, Church gov- 
ernment by archbishops and bishops." 



28 



II/\<forif of MefJwcli'sriL 



ment into pieces, and then burning the fragments in snccession 
— he all the while lifting up his hands and eves in pious indigna- 
tion, until not a shred was left. After a futile (and on the part 
of the king and court an insincere) effort for a bill of Comprehen- 
sion, giving to Protestant Xon-conformists the same considera- 
tion that had been allowed to Romanists or papal Xon-conform- 
ists in the ecclesiastical scheme of Elizabeth, the Restoration be- 
gan to bring forth its fruit. The party in power, not satisfied 
with restoring the expelled bishops and ministers of the Church, 
proceeded to make dii'ect aggression on the religious and civil 
liberties of those who differed from them. 

The effects of these measures were dreadful. Great numbers 
were imprisoned; pious persons were driven to meet for wor- 
sliip in solit;! ' ^v.l at midnight; and many S'^ught deliver- 
ance from Su_- . . i.amy ijy emigrating to the American Colonies. 
A host of conscientious ministers were driven from their 
churches, and as far as the povrer of the Crown could effect its 
object, all classes of Xon-conformists were silenced. Men of great 
learning and religion were turned out of parsonage, glebes, and 
tithes, and tlien liarried by laws that were a refinement of cruelty. 
And yet a piciful picture might be drawn of the clergymen who, 
twemy years pre^riously, had been expelled from the same 
churches by the Puritans, when men of learning and religion 
v>^ere in many instances succeeded by ''mere rhapsodists and 
ramblers," " cried up as rare soul-saving preachers.'' Xot a few 
venerable and w> : : a'nistars. then expelledi. by the rough, hand 
of violence, •'lii:^, i ' > ur their lives, worried, and worn out witli 
fears, anxi^^ti:--. i::-0"S-ities. rude affronts, and remediless afiiic- 
tions."" Such a ma.rked retail as this had never before been 
known in tlie history of the Pi ^ tr-t.a.t Church. Hundreds of the 
men who lately prote.-ted against granting toleration were now 
coraa \\ ' v: ^ ' v: in vain, to beg for liberty of conscience. 

T- i ...ovcd evcu the appearance of morality, 

ii opened vide the liocd-gates <:■£ licentiousness and vice. The 
court became ■ r r y tl brothel. The play-house became the temj^Ie 
of England. Ti.c .nng was a confirmed voluxituary, and is acknowl- 
edged to have been the lath ?r oi at least eleven children born of 
seven different counte,— -, " l. 1:^- 1 successively with him as 
mistresses, although he h;.L_ a . -i, il.- v-hole time who had to 
meet and mix ujp with these women at court. To all the relations 



Moral Condition of England. 



29 



of life, public and prii^ate, he was ■Qiiprincipled, profligate, false, 
and corrupt; whilst, from the example of his debauched and 
licentious court, public morals contracted a taint which it re- 
quired little less than a century to obliterate, and which for a 
time paralyzed the character of the nation. For nearly a gener- 
ation — during twenty-eight years — the people of England were in 
this state of religious retrogression. All the influences that were 
invested with power, and allowed freedom of action on the yjub- 
lic mind, were malign in their tendency. Charles II. died (1685) 
begging forgiveness of his neglected queen, blessing his bastard 
children, asking for kindness to be shown to his mistresses, and 
receiving from a popish priest the Komish communion, extreme 
unction, and a popish pardon. 

His brother, the Duke of York, an avowed papist, succeed- 
ed to the throne as James II. That he might bring in his own 
sort and x^lace them in the universities and the courts and the 
churches, he presented the rare phenomenon of a Eoman Cath- 
olic king contending for liberty of conscience for all his sub- 
jects! To this end he attempted — Stuart-like — to dispense with 
the laws of the realm by his royal prerogative. The perfidy and 
pig-headed obstinacy of James 11. , united with the judicial cru- 
elties that disgraced his brief reign, led to his expulsion. The 
army, the navy, the Church, and the people, simultaneously 
abandoned the infatuated monarch, vrho, finding himself without 
any support, sought refuge in France. 

William and Mary Avere, in consequence of the abdication of 
James, raised to the throne ; but the nation did not on this occa- 
sion repeat the blunder which it had made on the restoration of 
the Stuarts. Before offering the Prince of Orange the scex3ter, 
both Houses waited on him and tendered a Declaration of 
Eights, which was accepted and became law. By this measure, 
constitutional liberty was secured; the succession to the throne 
became limited to Protestant princes ; and other alterations of a 
liberal character followed. 

In the year (1689) which followed the accession of William and 
Mary, an Act was passed which gave toleration to Protestant 
Dissenters. Yet their accession made another division in the 
English Church. Many ministers belonging to the High-church 
] arty, regarding the hereditary right to the throne as divine and 
incitrieasible, refused to take the oath of allegiance to William, 



30 



History of Methodism. 



and were consequently expelled from their offices and livings, 
under the name of Non-jurors. The Archbishop of Canterbury, 
four bishops, and about fourteen hundred clergymen, suffered 
deprivation for this cause. Anne ascended the throne at the 
death of William (1702). Her reign was distinguished by the 
military triumphs of Marlborough, and the brilliant wit and 
raillery of what has been commonly called the Augustan ago of 
literature. George I., of Hanover, great-grandson of James I., 
succeeded (1714) on the death of Aime. He died of apoplexy, 
in 1727, whilst traveling with one of his mistresses, the Duchess 
of Kendal, to Hanover, and was succeeded by his son, George II. 

These events placed the country in the civil, political, and 
religious position in which it w^as found at the origin of Meth- 
odism. Such influences crowded into the history of one hundred 
and fifty years must have had their effect on the moral character 
of a people, and should be taken into account in order to the 
formation of a just idea of the period when Wesley and his 
helpers began their work. Prelates and other ecclesiastical 
dignitaries were embroiled in political strife — intense partisans. 
The majority of the clergy were ignorant, worldly-minded, and 
many of them scandalized their profession by open immorality; 
and it may be said, without any breach of charity, that very few, 
even of the best of them, had correct views respecting the aton- 
ing sacrifice of Christ, or understood the nature of the great 
cardinal doctrine of the Reformation — justification by faith. 
Arianism and Socinianism, taught by such men as Clarke and 
Priestley, had become fashionable even among Dissenters. The 
higher classes laughed at piety, and prided themselves on being 
above wdiat they called its fanaticism; the lower classes were 
grossly ignorant, and abandoned to vice. 

From the Restoration down to the rise of Methodism, Church- 
men and Non-conformists bear concurrent testimony respecting 
the decayed condition of religion and morals. The pathetic 
lamentation of Bishop Buruet has often been quoted. He 
says:, 

I am now in tlie seventieth year of my age; and as I cannot speak long in the 
world in any sort, so I cannot hope for a more solemn occasion than this of speak- 
ing witli all due freedom, both to the present and to the succeeding ages. There- 
fore 1 lay hold on it, to give a free vent to those sad thouglits tliat lie on my mind 
both day and night, and are the s-,djject of many secret mournings. I. cannot look on 
without the deepest concern, when I see the imminent ruin hanging over this 



Situation at the Rise of Methodism. 



31 



Church, and, by consequence, over the whole Eeformation. The outward state of 
things is Wack enough, God knows; but tliat which heightens my fears rises chiefly 
from the inward state into which we are unhappily fallen. I will, in examining 
this, confine myself to the clergy. Our Ember-weeks are the burden and grief of 
my life. The much greater part of those who come to be ordained are ignorant to a 
degree not to be apprehended by those who are not obliged to know it. The easi- 
est part of knowledge is that to which they are the greatest strangers ; I mean tlie 
plainest part of the Scriptures, which they say, in excuse for their ignorance, that 
their tutors in the universities never mention the reading of to them ; so that they 
can give no account, or at least a very imperfect one, of the contents even of the 
Gospels. Those wdio have read some few books, yet never seem to have read the 
Scriptures. Many cannot give a tolerable account even of the Catechism itself, 
how short and plain soever. This does often tear my lieart. 

Burnet complains further of liis clergy: "Politics and party 
eat out among us not only study and learning, but that which is 
the only thing that is more valuable — a true sense of religion." 

Speaking on the subject, Macaulay says: ''It is true that at 
that time (1685) there was no lack in the English Church of min- 
isters distinguished by abilities and learning; but these men 
were to be found, with scarce a single exception, at the universi- 
ties, at the great cathedrals, or in the capitol." 

And a shrewd critic of the following century remarks on the 
effect of test-oaths and shifting majorities upon religious integ- 
rity: "The great numbers who went through a nominal conver- 
sion in order to secure an estate, or to enter a profession, grad- 
ually lowered the theological temperature. Sobriety and good 
sense were the qualities most valued in the pulpit, and enthusi- 
asm and extravagance were those which were most dreaded. The 
habit of extempore preaching almost died out after Burnet. 
Tillotson set the example of written discourses, which harmon- 
ized better with the cold and colorless theology that prevailed." 

Natural religion was the favorite study of the clergy — "the 
darling topic of the age." In the advertisement to his "Analogy 
Between Religion and the Constitution and Course of Nature," 
designed to meet the prevalent infidelity, Bishop Butler says: 

It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons that 
'Christianity is not so much a subject of inquiry but that it is now at length dis- 
covered to be fictitious; and, accordingly, they treat it as if, in the present age, this 
were an agreed point among all j)eople of discernment; and nothing remained-but 
to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were, by way of repri- 
sals, for its having so long interrujjted the pleasures of the world. 



*Lecky: History of England in tlie Eighteenth Century, Vol. II., Chap. IX. 



32 



Hisfo)-i/ of MetJwdisnh 



Arclibisliop Seeker, but one year before that wliicli is commem- 
orated as the epoch of Methodism, observes: 

Men liave ahvavs complained of their own times, and always with too much 
reason. But though it is natural to think those evils the greatest which we feel 
ourselves, and therefore mistakes are easily made in comparing one age with an- 
otlier, yet in this we cannot he mistaken, that an open and professed disregard 
f(M' religion is become, through a variety of unhappy causes, the distinguishing 
cliaracter of the present age; that this evil is grown to a great heiglit in the me- 
tropolis of the nation; is daily spreading through every part of it; and, bad in 
it;;eli as any can be, must of necessity bring in all others after it. Indeed, it hath 
already brought in sucli dissoluteness and contempt of principle in the liiglier 
part of the world, and such profligate intemperance and fearlessness of committing 
crimes in the lower, as must, if this torrent of impiety stop not, become absolutely 
fatal. Cliristianity is now ridiculed and railed at with very little reserve, and the 
teachers of it without any at all. 

Dr. Isaac Watts, in his preface to "An Humble Attempt To- 
ward the Eeyiyal of Practical Religion " (1731), testifies of the 
religious declension: "It is a general matter of mournful obser- 
vation amongst all that lay the cause of God to heart; and, there- 
fore, it cannot be thought amiss for every one to use all just and 
proper efforts for fJie recovenj of dying )-eJ/gioii in tJie world.'' 

A late writer, not prejudiced in favor of Methodism, admits 
that when Wesley appeared the Anglican Church was " an eccle- 
siastical system under which the people of England had lapsed 
into heathenism, or a state hardly to be distinguished from it;" 
and that Methodism "preserved from extinction and reanimated 
the langidshing Non-conformity of the last century, which, just 
at the time of the Methodistic revival, Avas rapidly in course to 
be found nowhere but in boohs." 

"It was," to use Wesley's own words, "just at the time when 
we wanted little of filling up the measure of our iniquities, that 
two or three clergymen of the Church of England began vehe- 
mently to call sinners to repentance." 

Yoltaire did not speak without apparent reason when he pre- 
dicted that Christianity would be overthrown throughout the 
world in the next generation. He was struck by the contrast be- 
tween the English and French pulpits: "Discourses aiming at 
the pathetic and accompanied with violent gestures would ex- 
cite laughter in an English congregation. A sermon in France 
is a long declamation, scrupulously divided into three parts, and 



^ Isaac Taylor: Wesley and Methodism. 



Effect of the Methodist Revival. 



33 



delivered with enthusiasm. In England, a sermon is a solid but 
dry dissertation which a man reads to the people, without gest- 
ure and without any particular exaltation of the voice." 

A historian of authority, often quoted, after declaring that 
" in the middle classes a religious revival burst forth," in the first 
half of the last century, " which changed after a time the whole 
tone of English society," adds: 

But (luring the fifty years which preceded this outburst we see little save a re- 
volt against religion and against Churches, in either the higher classes or the 
poor. Of the prominent statesmen of the time, the greater part were unbeliev- 
ers in any form of Christianity, and distinguished for the grossness and immo- 
rality of their lives. Drunkenness and foul talk Avere thought no discredit to 
Walpole. A later prime-minister, the Duke of Grafton, was in the habit of ap- 
pearing at the play with his mistress. Purity and fidelity to the marriage-vow 
were sneered out of fashion; and Lord Chesterfield, in his letters to liis son, instructs 
him in the art of seduction as a part of a polite education."^ 

The secular historians of this period, after their own manner 
and from their points of view, set the case in a strong light. 
Lecky, who will hardly be accused of "evangelical" principles, 
nor counted as a partisan of Methodism, testifies: 

Yet cold, selfish, and unspiritual as was the religion of England from the Kev- 
olution till the Methodist movement had pervaded the Establishment with its 
spirit, it was a period that was not without its distinctive excellences. 

There was little dogmatic exposition, and still less devotional literature, but 
the assaults of the deists were met with masterly ability. To this period belong 
the Alcii>hron of Berkeley, the Analogy of Butler, the Credibility of the Gospels 
by Lardner, and the Evidential writings of Sherlock, Leslie, and Leland. The 
clergy of the great cities were often skillful and masculine reasoners. Those 
of the country discharged the oflScial duties of religion, mixing without scruple in 
country business and country sports. Their standard was low; their zeal was lan- 
guid ; but their influence, such as it was, was chiefly for good. That in such a so- 
ciety a movement like that of Methodism should have exercised a great power is 
not surprising. The secret of its success was merely that it satisfied some of the 
strongest and most enduring wants of our nature which found no gratification in 
the popular theology, and that it revived a large class of religious doctrines which 
had been long almost wholly neglected. The utter depravity of human nature, 
the lost condition of every man who is born into the world, the vicarious atone- 
ment of Christ, the necessity to salvation of a new birth, of faith, of the constant 
and sustaining action of the Divine Spirit upon the believer's soul, are doctrines 
which in the eyes of the modern Evangelicals constitute at once the most vital 
and the most influential portions of Christianity; but they are doctrines which, 
during the greater part of the eighteenth century, were seldom heard from a 
Church of England pulp't. 



^- Green: History of the English People, Vol. IV., Book VIIL 

3 



34 



History of Metliodism. 



"The splendid victories by land and sea, and the dazzling epi- 
sodes," in the reign of George II., "must yield," says Lecky, "in 
real importance to that religious revolution which shortly before 
had begun by the preaching of the Wesleys and AVhitefield. The 
creation of a large, powerful, and active sect, extending over both 
hemispheres, and numbering many millions of souls, was but 
one of its consequences. It also exercised a profound and last- 
ing influence upon the spirit of the Established Church, upou 
the amount and distribution of the moral forces of the nation, 
and even upon the course of its political history." 

The same author thus describes the teaching of the pulpit 
"when the new movement began:" 

The essential and predominating characteristics of the prevailing theology were 
the prominence that was given to external morality as distinguished both from 
dogma and from all the forms of emotion, and the assiduity with which the jireach- 
ers labored to establish the purely rational character of Christianity. It was the 
leading object of the skeptics of the time to assert the sufficiency of natural relig- 
ion. It was the leading object of a large proportion of tlie divines to prove that 
Christianity was little more than natural religion accredited by historic proofs and 
enforced by the indispensable sanctions of rewards and punishments. Beyond a 
belief in the doctrine of the Trinity and a general acknowledgment of the verac- 
ity of the Gospel narratives, they taught little that might not have been taught by 
disciples of Socrates and Plato. They labored to infuse a higher tone into the so- 
cial and domestic spheres, to make men energetic in business, moderate in pleas- 
ure, charitable to the poor, upright, honorable, and dutiful ir every rehition of 
life. While acknowledging the imperfection, they sincerely respected the essen- 
tial goodness of human nature, dwelt mucli upon the infallible authority cf the 
moral sense, and explained away or simply neglected all doctrines that conflicted 
with it. A great variety of causes had led to the gradual evanescence of dogmat- 
ic teaching and to the discredit into which strong religious emotions had fallen.* 

At the risk of anticipating a portion of our history, the follow- 
ing remarks of this popular and philosophic historian on Pitt 
and AVesley are here presented for the light — direct and indi- 
rect — which they throw upon the subject: 

ITnder the influence of many adverse circumstances, the standard of morals had 
been greatly depressed since the Restoration; and in the early Hanoverian period 
the nation had sunk into a condition of moral apathy rarely paralleled in history. 
But from about the middle of the eighteenth century a reforming spirit was once 
more abroad, and a steady movement of moral ascent may be detected. Tlie influence 
cf Pitt in politics and tlie influence of Wesley and his followers in religion Avere 
the earliest and most important agencies in effecting it. In most respects 
Pitt and Wesley were, it is true, extremely unlike. But with all these dififer- 



* History of En ? land in the Eighteenth Century, Vol. IE, Chap. IX. 



Ejfect of the Methodist Berivcd. 



35 



ences, there was a real analogy and an intimate relation between the work of 
these two men. The religious and political notions prevailing in the early Han- 
overian period were closely connected. The theological conception which looked 
upon religion as a kind of adjunct to the police-force, which dwelt almost exclu- 
sively on the prudence of embracing it, and on the advantages it could confer, and 
which regarded all spirituality and all strong emotions as fanaticism, corresponded 
very faithfully to that political system under which corruption was regarded as 
the natural instrument, and the maintenance of material interests the supreme 
end of government ; while the higher motives of political action were systemat- 
ically ridiculed and discouraged. By Wesley in the sphere of religion, by Pitt 
in the sphere of politics, the tone of thought and feeling was changed. It was 
felt that enthusiasm, disinterestedness, and self-sacrifice had their place in poli- 
tics; and although there was afterward, for shoit periods, extreme corruption, 
public opinion never acquiesced in it again.* 

Green, in liis "History of the English People," f presents 
with equal clearness the fact that the Wesleyan reviyal was a 
necessary condition for purifying political life. 

Horace Walpole, whose power ran through three reigns — from 
Anne to George II. — was the standing representative of polit- 
ical cynicism, of that unbelief in high sentiment and noble aspi- 
rations which had followed the crash of Puritanism. In the 
talk of patriotism and public virtue he saw nonsense. "Men 
would grow wiser," he said, "and come out of that." Bribery 
and borough-jobbing were his base of power. Green says: 

Kant about ministerial corruption would have fallen flat on the public ear had 
iiot new moral forces, a new sense of social virtue, a new sense of religion, been 
stirring, however blindly, in the minds of Englishmen. The stir showed itself 
markedly in a religious revival which began in a small knot of Oxford students, 
whose revolt against the religious deadness of their times expressed itself in ascet- 
ic observances, an enthusiastic devotion, and a methodical regularity of life whicli 
gained them the nickname of "Methodists." Three figures detached themselves 
from the group as soon as, on its transfer to London, in 1738, it attracted public 
attention by the fervor and even extravagance of its piety; and each found his 
special work in the task to which the instinct of the new movement led it from 
the first — that of carrying religion and morality to the vast masses of population 
which lay concentrated in the towns, or around the mines and collieries of Corn- 
wall and the north. AVhitefield was, above all, the preacher of the revival. 
Speech was governing English politics; and the religious power of speech was 
shown when a dread of ''enthusiasm" closed against the new apostles tha pulpits 
of the Established Church and forced them to preach in the fields. Their voice 
was soon heard in the wildest and most barbarous corners of tlie land, in the 
dens of London, or in the long galleries where, in the pauses of his labor, the 
Cornish miner listens to the sobbing of the sea. 



- Ibid., Vol. II., Chap. VIII. t Vol. IV., Book YIIL 



36 



Hist or ij of Methodism. 



Such eulogies on Wesley and liis co-laborers come late, but 
are none the less significant. They contrast gratefully with the 
scurrillous literature that greeted the Founder of Methodism 
when his work began. The test of Gamaliel has been applied: 
"But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it;^' and historians 
announce the verdict of a century of facts. 

We close the chapter with other quotations from this author, 
who has studied Wesley and Wesleyanism: "He was older 
than any of his colleagues at the start, and he outlived them 
all. His life, indeed, almost covers the century. No man 
ever stood at the head of a great revolution whose temper 
vvas so anti-revolutionary. When AVhitefield began his ser- 
mons in the fields, AYesley 'could not at first reconcile himself to 
that strange way.' He fought against the admission of laymen 
as preachers until he found himself left with none but laymen 
to preach. He broke with the Moravians who had been the 
earliest friends of the neAv movement, when they endangered its 
safe conduct by their contempt of religious forms. He broke 
with Whitefield when the great preacher plunged into an extrav- 
agant Calvinism. But the same practical temper of mind whicli 
•led him to reject what was unmeasured, and to be the last to 
adopt what was new, enabled him at once to grasp and organize 
the novelties he adopted. He himself became the most un- 
wearied of field-preachers, and his journal for half a century is 
lii'tlemore than a record of fresh journeys and fresh sermons. 
When once driven to employ lay helpers in his ministry, he 
made their work a new and attractive feature in his system. The 
great body which he thus founded numbered one hundred thou- 
sand at his death, and now counts its members in England and 
America by millions. But the Methodists themselves were the 
least result of the Methodist revival. Its action upon the Church 
broke the lethargy of the clergy ; and the ' Evangelical ' move- 
ment, which found representatives like Newton and Cecil within 
the pale of the Establishment, made the fox-hunting parson and 
the absentee rector at last impossible. A new philanthrophy re- 
formed our prisons, infused clemency and wisdom into our penal 
laws, abolished the slave-trade, and gave the first impulse to 
popular education." 



CHAPTER III. 



Home Training — Parsonage Life — At School — At tlie University — Awakenings 
— Studying Divinity — Predestination — Difficulties About Assurance — Ordina- 
tion. 

LET us return to the Epworth parsonage. Samuel Wesley, 
the stalwart Churchman, is diligent; never unemployed, 
never triflingly employed. 

Dr. Whitehead says of him : "As a pastor, Samuel Wesley was 
indefatigable in the duties of his office; a constant preacher, feed- 
ing the flock with the pure doctrines of the gospel, according to 
his ability; diligent in visiting the sick, and administering such 
advice as their situations recj^uired; and attentive to the conduct 
of all who were under his care; so that every one in his parish 
became an object of his concern. No strangers could settle with- 
in its limits but he presently knew it, and made himself acquaint- 
ed with them." 

He undertook to work the land of the rectory, but was a bad 
manager, and debts grew faster than crops. His barn fell, his 
flax got burned. The rector's temper, along with his Tory pol- 
itics, made him unpopular; his cattle were stabbed in the field, 
his house-dog w^as maimed. Once his house was partially burned, 
and on another occasion was entirely destroyed by fire — whether 
by accident or incendiarism will never be known. 

After a hotly-contested election, Mr. Wesley, for a debt of £30, 
was put into prison by an unfriendly creditor, where he remained 
three months, until friends who were able to help came to his 
relief. "Now I am at rest," he wrote from the prison to the 
Archbishop of York, " for I am come to the haven where I have 
long expected to be ; and I do n't despair of doing good here, and 
it may be more in this new parish than in my old one." He 
1 ?.ad prayers daily, and preached on Sundays. He was consoled 
by the fortitude of his noble wife. Money she had none — not a 
coin; the household lived on bread and milk, the produce of the 
Epworth glebe ; but she did what she could to help her husband 
in his strait — ^^she sent him her little articles of jewelry, includ- 
ing her wedding-ring; but these he sent her back, as things far 

(37) 



38 



Histonj of Methodism. 



too sacred to be used in relieving his necessities. "'Tis not 
every one," he wrote again to the archbishop, " who could bear 
these things; but I bless God my wife is less concerned with 
suffering them than I am in writing, or than I believe your Grace 
will be in reading them. Most of my friends advise me to 
leave Epworth, if ever I should get from hence. I confess I 
am not of that mind, because I may yet do good here; and it 
is like a cow^ard to desert my post because the enemy fire thick 
upon me." 

Dr. A. Clarke assures us that Samuel Wesley had a large share 
of vivacity; that in conversation he was entertaining and instruct- 
ive, having a rich fund of anecdote, and of witty and wise say- 
ings. There is a grim humor in the way he tells of his debt 
troubles. His income was =£200; but deducting taxes, poor as- 
sessments, sub-rents, tenths, procurations, and synodals, the Ep- 
worth living brought not more than about £130 a year. Writing 
to his patron, the archbishop (1701), he details these expenses, 
and adds: 

I have had but three children born since I came liither about three years 
since, but another coining, and niv wife incapable of any business in my family, 
as she has been for almost a quarter of a year, yet we have hut one maid-servant, 
to retrench all possible expenses. Ten pounds a year I allow my mother, to 
help to keep her from starving. All which together keeps me necessitous, espe- 
cially since interest-money begins to pinch me, and I am always called on for 
money before I make it, and must buy every thing at the worst hand ; wliereas, 
could I be so happy as to get on the right side of my income, I should not fear, 
by God's help, but to live honestly in the world, and to leave a little to my cliil- 
dren after me. I think, as 'tis, I could perliaps work it out in time, in half a 
dozen or half a score years, if my heart should hold so long; but for that, God's 
will be done ! * 

Notwithstanding all these things, Samuel Wesley held on his 
way. Leaving the care of household and the education of chil- 
dren to his excellent wife, he not only discharged his clerical 
duties with diligence, but, unchecked by poverty or persecution, 

■^A few days after, another letter followed to the archbishop: "This comes as a 
rider to the last, by the same post, to bring such news as I presume will not be 
unwelcome to a person who has so particular a concern for me. Last night my 
wife brought me a fau children. There are but two yet, a boy and a girl, and I 

think they are all at present Wednesday evening my wife and I 

clubbed and joined stocks, which came but to six shillings, to send for coals. 
Tliursday morning I received the ten pounds, and at night my wife was delivered. 
Glory be to God for his unspeakable goodness!" 



Samuel Wesley and His Books. 



39 



persevered in a course of literary labor of vast magnitude. Be- 
sides a great number of smaller but respectable publications, lie 
dedicated his "Life of Christ," in verse, to Queen Mary; his 
"History of the Old and New Testaments" to Queen Anne; and 
his elaborate Latin dissertations on the Book of Job to Queen 
Caroline — three successive queens of Great Britain, His great- 
est literary work was " Dissertationes in Librum Jobi," a large- 
size folio book of six hundred pages. He was employed upon 
this remarkable production for more than five and twenty years, 
and death found him plodding away at the unfinished task. It 
is written in Latin, intermixed with innumerable Hebrew and 
Greek quotations. The list of subscribers for it includes the 
first characters in the realm — princes, prelates, poets, and phi- 
losophers. Pope was intimate with the rector, and in a letter to 
Swift, soliciting his interest for the book, says of its author: "I 
call him what he is, a learned man, and I engage you will approve 
his prose more than you formerly did his poetry." The illus- 
trations, or "sculptures," were numerous, unique, and costly. 
While the author was giving minute directions about engraving 
Job's war-horse and the " Poetica Descriptio Monstri," the wolf 
was at his door. The rectory had been rebuilt within a year 
after it was burned; but the rector was so impoverished that 
thirteen years afterward his wife declares that the house was 
still not half furnished, and she and her children had not more 
than half enough of clothing. This extract from one of her let- 
ters tells its own story: "The late Archbishoj) of York once 
said to me (when my master was in Lincoln castle), 'Tell me, 
Mrs. Wesley, whether you ever really wanted bread?' 'My 
lord,' said I, 'I will freely own to your Grace that, strictly 
speaking, I never did want bread. But than I had so much care 
to get it before it was eat, and to pay for it after, as has often 
made it very unpleasant to me ; and I think to have bread on such 
terms is the next degree of wretchedness to having none at all.' " 
The mother of nineteen children, ten of whom were reared to 
maturity, the wife of a poor clergyman, Mrs. Wesley was placed 
in circumstances sufiiciently trying to call forth all the resources 
of the greatest and most cultivated Christian mind. And it is not 
saying too much to add that her resources never failed her. She 
conducted household affairs with judgment, precision, diligence, 
and economy. Her children found in her a devoted, talented, 



40 



History of Methodism. 



ptiicl systematic teacher. When rismg into life^ her sons as well 
as daughters had in their mother an able and affectionate coun- 
selor, correspondent, and friend. Her most distinguished son, 
in later years, mentions " the calm serenity with which his moth- 
er transacted business, wrote letters, and conversed, surrounded 
by her thirteen children." She was a woman that lived by rule; 
she methodized every thing so exactly that to each operation she 
had a time, and time sufficient to transact all the business of the 
family. As to the children, their going to rest, rising in the 
morning, dressing, eating, learning, and exercise, she managed 
by rule, which was never suffered to be broken unless in case of 
siclmess. 

It VvT.s not until after her children had reached mature years 
that the system by which she managed her household was com- 
mitted to vvriting. These are some of the principal rules which 
she says, " I observed in educating my family: " 

The children were always put into a regular method of living, in such things 
as they were capable of, from their birth; as in dressing and undressing, chang- 
ing their linen, etc. AVlien turned a year old (and some before) tliey were taught 
to fear the rod and to cry softly, by vrhich means they escaped abundance of cor- 
rection which they might otherwise have had; and tliat most odious noise of tlie 
crying of children was rarely heard in the house, but the family usually lived in 
as much quietness as if there had not been a child among them. 

As soon as they were grown pretty strong, they were confined to tliree meals a 
day. At dinner their little table and chairs were set by ours, where they could 
be overlooked; and as soon as they could liandle a knife and fork they Avere set to 
our table. They were never suflered to choose their meat, but always made to eat 
such things as were provided for the family. 

At six, as soon as family prayer was over, they had their supper; at seven the 
maid washed them, and, beginning at the youngest, she undressed and got them 
all to bed by eight, at which time she left them in their several rooms awake, for 
there was no such thing allowed of in our house as sitting by a child till it fell 
asleep. 

In order to form the minds of children, the first thing to be done is to conquer 
their will and bring them to an obedient temper. To inform the understanding 
is a work of time, and must Avith children proceed by sIoav degrees, as tliey are 
able to bear it; but the sulyecting the Avill is a thing which must be done at once, 
and the sooner the better, for by neglecting timely correction they Avill contract a 
stubbornness and obstinacy Avhich are hardly ever after conquered, and never 
Avithout using such severity as Avould be as jaainful to me as to the child. In the 
esteem of the world they pass for kind and indulgent Avhom I call cruel parents, 
Avho permit their children to get habits Avhich they knoAv must be afterAvard bro- 
ken. Nay, some are so stupidly fond as in sjDort to teach their children to do 
things which in aAvhile after they have severely beaten them for doing. When 



M)-s. Wesleij — Her Famihj Government. 



41 



a child is corrected it must be conquered ; and this will be no hard matter to do 
if it be net grov/n headstrong by too much indulgence. And when the will of a 
child is totally subdued, and it is taught to revere and stand in awe of the parents, 
then a great many childisli follies and inadvertences may be passed by. I insist 
upon conquering the will of cliildren betimes, because this is the only strong and 
rational foundation of a religious education, without which both precept and ex- 
ample will be ineffectual. But when this is thoroughly done, then a child is ca- 
pab'e of being governed by the reason and piety of its parents, till its own under- 
standing comes to maturity, and the principles of religion have taken root in tlie 
mind. 

Our children were taught, as soon as they could speak, the Lord's Prayer, 
which they were made to say at rising and bed -time constantly, to which as 
they grew bigger were added a short jirayer for their parents, and some collects, a 
short catechism, and some portion of Scripture, as their memories could bear. 
They were very early made to distinguish the Sabbath from other days, before 
they could well siJeak or go. They were as soon taught to be still at family 
prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately after, which they used to do by signs 
before they could kneel or speak. 

They were quickly made to understand they miglit have notliing they cried for. 
They were not suffered to ask even tlie It) west servant for aught Avitliout saying, 
"Pray give me such a thing;" and the servant was chid if she ever let them omit 
that word. 

Taking God's name in vain, cursing and swearing, profanity, obscenity, rude, 
ill-bred names, were never heard among tliem ; nor were they ever permitted to 
call each other by their proper names without the addition of brother or sister. 

Tliere was no such thing as loud talking or playing allowed of, but every one 
was kept close to business for the six hours of school. And it is almost incredible 
what a child may be taught in a quarter of a year by a vigorous application, if it 
have but a tolerable capacity and good health. Kezzy excepted, all could read 
better in that time tlian the most of women can do as long as tliey live. 

For some years we went on very well. Isever were children in better order. 
Never were children better disposed to piety, or in more subjection to their par- 
ents, till that fatal dispersion of tliem after the fire into several families. In those 
they were left at full liberty to converse with servants, which before they had 
always been restrained from, and to run abroad to play Avith any children, good or 
bad. They soon learned to neglect a strict observance of the Sabbath, and got 
knowledge of several songs and bad things v^diich before they had no notion of. 
That civil behavior v.diich made them admired Av]ien tliey were at home by all 
who saw them was in a great measure lost, and a clo^vnish accent and many rude 
ways were learnt, which were not reformed Avithout some difficulty. 

When tlie house was rebuilt, and the children all brought home, we entered on 
a strict reform; and then was begun the custom of singing psalms at beginning 
and leaving school, morning and evening. Then also that of a general retirement 
at five o'clock was entered upon, when the oldest took the youngest that could 
speak, and the second the next, to v.diom they read the psalms for the day and a 
chapter in the Ncav Testament — as in the morning they were directed to read the 
psalms and a chapter in the Old Testament, after which they went to their pri- 
vate prayers, before they got their breakfast or came into the family. 



42 



History of MefJwdism. 



There were several by-laws observed among us. 

First. It had been observed that cowardice and fear of punishment often lead 
children into lying, till they get a custom of it -which they cannot leave. To pre- 
vent tills, a law was made tliat whoever was charged with a fault of wliich they 
were guilry, if they would ingenuously confess it and promise to amend, should 
not be beaten. This rule prevented a great deal of lying. 

Second. That no sinful action, as lying, j^ilfering, disobedience, quarreling, etc., 
should ever pass unpunislied. 

Third. That no child should be ever chid cr beat twice for the same fault, and 
that if they amended they should never 1 e upl-riiided witli it afterward. 

Fourth. That every signal act of obedience, especially vrhen it crossed upcu 
their own inclinations, should be always commended. 

Fifth. That if ever any child performed an act of obedience, or did any thing 
with an intention to please, though the performance was not Avell, yet the obedi- 
ence and intention should be kindly accepted, and the child with sAveetness di- 
rected lioAv to do better for the future. 

Sixth. That propriety be inviolably preserved, and none suffered to invade the 
property of another in the smallest matter, though it Avere but of the value of a 
farthing, or a pin, v. hich they might not take from the owner without, much less 
against, his consent. This rule can never be too much inculcated on the minds of 
children ; and from the want of parents or governors doing it as they ought pro- 
ceeds that shamefid neglect of justice which we may observe in the world. 

The clay before a child began to study, the house was set 
ill order, every one's work appointed, and a charge given that 
none should come into the room from nine till twelve, or from 
two till five, which were the schcol-hours. One day was allowed 
the pupil to learn his letters, and each of them did in that time 
know them all except two, who were a day and a half at the task, 
''for which," she says, "I then thought them very dull." Sam- 
uel, who was the first child thus taught, learned the alphabet in 
a few hours. The day after he was five years old he began to 
study, and as soon as he knew the letters he proceeded to spell 
out the first chapter of Genesis. The same method was ob- 
served by them all.* 

Bcok-knowledge was only a part of the course of education 
embraced by Mrs. Wesley's system. She knew that for the 
truths of the gospel to find a lodgment in the heart they must 
be personally and directly applied. For this purpose she ar- 

Samuel, the eldest son, was born whilst Mr. Wesley was a curate in London; 
five other children — all daughtei-s — of whom three died, were born at South Orms- 
bv; and afterward thirteen more were born at Epworth, Of the whole, three 
boys, Samuel, Jolm, and Charles; and seven girls, Emilia, Susanna, Mary, Mehet- 
abel, Anne, Martha, and Keziah, reached maturity, and were all married, except 
the last. 



Mrs. Wesley and the Curate. 



43 



ranged a special private conference witii each child once in every 
week. Her own account of this plan is tluis expressed: "I take 
such a portion of time as 1 can best spare every night to discourse 
with each child by itself on something that relates to its princi- 
pal concerns. On Monday I talk with Molly, on Tuesday with 
Hetty, Wednesday with Nancy, Thursday with Jacky, Friday 
with Patty, Saturday with Charles, and with Emilia and Sukey 
together on Sunday." These conversations disclosed to the 
mother the real thoughts and feelings of her children respecting 
personal religion.* 

Nearly twenty years afterward, John Wesley, at Oxford, was, 
by correspondence, inquiring for direction from his mother on the 
subject of a complete renunciation of the Avorld. Urging his 
claim for just a little time to be given by her to this point, he 
says in his letter: "In many things you have interceded for me 
and prevailed. Who knows but in this too you may be success- 
ful? If you can spare me only that little part of Thursday even- 
ing which you formerly bestowed upon me in another manner, I 
doubt not it would be as useful now for correcting my heart as 
it was then for forming my judgment." 

On three several occasions, Samuel Wesley Avas elected proc- 
tor, or convocation man, for the diocese of Lincoln. These at- 
tendances at convocation brought upon him an expenditure of 
£150, which he could ill afford to bear. Being so much in Lon- 
don, he required a curate to supply his place at Ep worth. On 
one occasion, when Wesley returned from London, the parishion- 
ers complained that the curate had "preached nothing to his 
congregation except the duty of paying their debts and behaving 
well among their neighbors." The complainants added: "We 
think, sir, there is more in religion than this." The rector re- 
plied: " There certainly is; I will hear him myself." The curate 
was sent for, and was told that he must preach next Lord's-day, 
the rector at the same time saying: "I suppose you can prepare 
a sermon upon any text I give you." "Yes, sir," replied the 
ready curate. "Then," said Wesley, "prepare a sermon on He- 
brews xi. 6, ' Without faith it is impossible to please God.' " The 
time arrived, and the text being read with great solemnity, the 
curate began his brief sermon, by saying: "Friends, faith is a 
most excellent virtue, and it produces other virtues also. In par- 



* Stevenson's IVIemorials of the Wesley Family. 



Histonj of Methodism. 



ticular, it makes a man pay his debts; '" and thus lie fell into tlie 
worn rut and kept on to the end. 

It is not likely that the ministry of such a man would satisfy 
the enlightened mind and religious heart of Susanna AVesley; 
nor is it to be wondered at that she should try to supply its de- 
fects by reading to her children and to her neighbors, on Sunday 
evenings, the best sermons to be found in her husband's library. 
The congregations c>f the rector's wife wei'e probably larger 
than these of the rector's curate. Inman heard of these gather- 
ings, and wrote the rector, complaining that Mrs. Wesley, in his 
absence, had turned the parsoiiage into a conventiele; that the 
Church was likely to be scandalized by such irregular proceed- 
ings, and that they ought not to be tolerated. Mr. AVesley wrote 
to his wife; and an extract from her reply gives us a hint of his 
objections and a histoiy of her irregular way c£ doing good: 

I lieanily thank you for dealing so plainly and laiTlifully Aviili me in a n^atter 
of no common concern. The main of your objections against our Sunday evening 
meetings are, first, that it will look particular; secondly, my sex. 

As to its looking particular, I grant it dees; and so does almost every thing that 
is serious, or tliat may any way advance the glory of God or the salvation cf soul-, 
if it be performed out of a pulpit, or in the way of common conversation; because 
in our corrupt age the utmost care and diligence have been used to banish all dis- 
eotirse of God or spiritual concerns out of society, as if religion were never to ap- 
pear out of the closet, and we were to be ashamed of nothing so much as of pro- 
fessins: ourselves to be Christians. To your second, I reply that as I am a woman 
so I am alsD mistress of a large family. And though the superior charge of the 
souls coniained in it lies upon you, as head of the family, and as their minister, 
vet in vour absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave in my care as a tal- 
ent committed to me. under a trust, by the great Lord of all the families of heaven 
and eartli. I tlioucrlu it my duty to spend some part of the day in reading to and 
instructing" luy - , iidly in yottr absence, when, having no afternoon serv- 

ice, we liave so :.. . re for such exercises; and such time I esteem spent in 
a way more acceptable to God tlian if I had retired to my own private devotions. 
This was the beginning of my present practice; other people coming in and join- 
ing with us was purely aci i lental. Our lad told his parents — they first desired to 
be admitted ; then ctliers who heard of it begged leave also. I chose the best and 
most awakening sermons we had. Last Sunday, I believe, we had above two hun- 
dred hearers, and yet many went away for want of room. We banish all temporal 
concerns from our society: none is sufiered to mingle any discourse aboi;t them 
with our reading and singing. We keep close to the business of the day, and as 
soon as it is over they all go home. And where is the harm of this? As for your 
propcsal of letting some other person read, alas I you do not consider wliat a peo- 
ple tliese are, I do not think one man among them could read a sermon without 
spellin-z a good i^art of it; and how would that eduy the rest? , . . . If you 



Burning of Epivorth Parsonage. 



45 



do, after all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do not tell me that yon desire me 
to do it, for tliat will not satisfy my conscience; but send me yonr positive command, 
in such full and express terms as may absolve me from all guilt and punishment, 
for neglecting this opportunity of doing good, ^\hen you and I shall appear before 
the great and awful tribunal of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

It has been well remarked that when, in this characteristic 
letter, she said, " Do not tell me that you desire me to do it, but 
send me your positive command," Susanna Wesley was bringing 
to its place a corner-stone of the future Methodism. John and 
Charles Wesley were present at these irregular meetings — the 
first Methodist meetings ever held — Charles a child of four years 
old, and John a boy of nine. 

On February 9, 1709, at midnight, when all the family were in 
bed, Samuel AVesley was startled by a cry of fire, out-of-doors. 
His wife and her eldest daughters rose as quickly as possible. 
He then burst open the nursery door, where in two beds were 
sleeping five of his children and their nurse. The nurse seized 
Charles, the youngest, and bid the others follow. Three of the 
children did as they were bidden; but John (six years old) was 
left sleeping. The wind drove the fiames inward with such vio- 
lence that egress seemed impossible. Some of the children now 
escaped through the windows, and the rest through a little door 
into the garden. Mrs. Wesley was not in a condition either to 
climb to the windows or get to the garden door; and, ill clad as 
she was, she was compelled to force her way to the main entrance 
through the fury of the flames, which she did, suffering no fur- 
ther harm than scorching. 

When Mr. Wesley was counting heads to see if all his fam- 
ily were safe, he heard a cry issuing from the nursery, and found 
that John was wanting. He attempted to ascend the stairs, but 
they were all on fire, and were insufficient to bear his weight. 
Finding it impossible to render help, he knelt down and com- 
mended the soul of his child to God. Meanwhile the child had 
mounted a chest which stood near the window, and a person in 
the yard saw him, and proposed running to fetch a ladder. An- 
other seeing there was no time for that, proposed to fix himself 
against the wall, and that a lighter man should be set upon his 
shoulders. This was done — the child was pulled through the 
window; and, at the same instant, the roof fell with a fearful 
crash, but fortunately fell inward, and thus the two men and 
the rescued child were saved from perishing. When the child 



46 



Hisforif of MefJtodtsni. 



■^'as taken to an adjoining lionse, the devont rector cried: "Come, 
neighbors, let us kneel down; let us give thanks to God; he has 
given me all my eight children; let the house go; I am rich 
enough." The memory of his deliverance, on this occasion, is 
preserved in one of John's early portraits, which has below the 
head, the representation of a house in flames, with the motto, 
"Is not this a brand plucked from the burning?''* 

The rector writes: "AVhen poor Jackey was saved, I could not 
believe it till I had kissed him two or three times. My wife 
asked, 'Are your books safe? " I told her it was not much, now 
she and the rest were preserved alive. Mr. Smith, of Gains- 
borough, and others, have sent for some of my children. I had 
finished my alterations in the ' Life of Christ " a little while 
since, and transcribed three copies of it; but all is lost. God 
be praised! I hope my wife will recover and not miscarry, but 
God will give me my nineteentli child. When I came to her 
her lips were black. I did not know her. Some of the chil- 
dren are a little burned, but not hurt or disfigured. I only got 
a small blister on my hand. The neighbors send us clothes, for 
it is cold without them.'" 

Mr. and Mrs. AVesley, aware of their inability to lay up fort- 
unes for their children, resolved that they should enjoy the ad- 
vantages of education. The daughters were well instructed by 
their mother: and their three sons were all graduates of the Uni- 
versity of Oxford. Samuel Wesley, junior, was educated at 
Westminster School: and in 1711 was elected to Christchurch, 
Oxford, where he took his degree. He was eminent for his learn- 
ing, and was an excellent poet, with great power of satire, and 

"^Because of ilii.^ nar^o^v escape, liis mother's mind appears to have been drawn 
out with uni;>ual earnestness in concern for John. One of her written medita- 
tion-, when lie was eight years old, shows how much her lieart was engaged in 
forming his mind for religion. Tliis is the meditation: "Evening, May 17th, 
1711. Son John. AVhat shall I render nnto the Lord for all his mercies? Tiie 
little unworthy praise that I can oiler is so mean and contemptible an offering 
that I am even ashamed to tender it. But, Lord, accept it for the sake of Christ, 
and pardon the deticiency of tlie sacrifice. I would offer thee myself, and all that 
thou hast given me ; and I would resolve — 0 give me grace to do it I — that the 
residue of my life shall be devoted to thy service. And I do intend to be more 
partictilarly careful of the soul of this child, that thou hast so mercifully j)rovided 
for. than ever I have been; that I may do my endeavor to instill into his mind the 
principles of thy true religion, and virtue. Lord, give me grace to do it sincerely 
an 1 prudently, and bless my attempts with good success!" 



The WesJeij Brothers at School. 



47 



an elegant wit. He held a considerable rank among tlie literary 
men of the day.* 

As a High-churchman, he greatly disapproved of the conduct 
of his brothers when they began to itinerate. He also objected 
to the doctrines they preached. Probably the last letter written 
by his trenchant pen was in reply to one sent him from Bristol 
by his brother, dated May lOtli, 1739, in which he gives instances 
of instantaneous conversion resulting from his preaching in 
that city. Doubting Samuel wrote to John: "I must ask a few 
more questions. Did these agitations ever begin during the use 
of any collects of the Church, or during the preaching of any ser- 
mon that had been preached within consecrated walls without 
that effect, or during the inculcating any other doctrine besides 
that of your new birth?" 

Charles was sent to Westminster School in the year 1716, be- 
ing then eight years of age. John had then been about two 
years at the Charterhouse School in London. At Westminster, 
Charles was placed under the care of his brother Samuel, who 
was one of the ushers in that establishment, and, for a time, bore 
the expense of Charles's maintenance and education. Samuel 
made him an excellent classical scholar and a " Churchman." 

When John was at the Charterhouse, the elder boys were ac- 
customed, in addition to their other tyranny, to take the portions 
of animal food provided for the younger scholars. In conse- 
quence of this he was limited for a considerable time to a small 
daily portion of bread as his only solid food. There was one 
thing, however, which contributed to his general flow of health, 
and to the establishment of his constitution; and that Vr'as his 
invariable attention to a strict command of his father that he 
should run round the Charterhouse garden, which was of con- 
siderable extent, three times every morning. 

From early childhood he was remarkable for his sober and 
studious disposition, and seemed to feel himself answerable to 
his reason and conscience for every thing he did. Such was his 
consistency of conduct that his father admitted him to the com- 

^In 1736 he published a quarto volume of poetry. Among these pieces we 
have a paraphrase on Isaiah xl. 6-8, occasioned by tlie death of a young lady, and 
which is found in the hymn-books, beginning, "The morning flowers display their 
sweets." He was also the author of, "The Lord of Sabbath let us praise;" "Hail, 
God the Son, in glory crown'd;" "Hail, Holy Ghost, Jehovah, third;" "The Sun 
of righteousness appears," etc. 



48 



History of MefJiodism. 



miiBion-table when he was only eight years old. Between the 
age of eight and nine the small-pox attacked him. At the time 
his father was in London, and his mother writing him remarks: 
"Jack has borne his disease bravely, like a man, and indeed like 
a Christian, without complaint." The great privilege of being a 
Charterhouse scholar he OAved to a nobleman's friendship for his 
father. There he remained six years, making such progress that 
in 1720 he was elected on this foundation to Christchurch, Ox- 
ford, one of the noblest colleges in that illustrious seat of learn- 
ing; and here he continued until after his ordination in 1725. 
In reference to this period he writes: "I still said my prayers, 
both in public and private, and read with the Scriptures several 
other books of religion, especially comments on the New Testa- 
ment. Yet I had not all this while so much as a notion of inward 
holiness; nay, went on habitually and, for the most part, very 
contentedly in some or other known sin — though with some in- 
termission and short struggles, especially before and after the 
holy communion, which I was obliged to receive thrice a year." 

He often struggled with financial difficulty, and more than 
once, when requesting his sisters to write to him, playfully re- 
marks that though he was "so poor," he "would be able to spare 
the postage for a letter now and then." The X40 per annum 
which belonged to him as a Charterhouse scholar was barely suf- 
ficient to meet all the expenses of a young Oxford student of that 
day. His financial embarrassments are often and painfully re- 
ferred to in the family correspondence. 

From the age of eleven to twenty-one, John Wesley's religious 
experience seems to have suffered much loss. He was now the 
gay and sprightly young man, with a turn for wit and humor. 
He had already begun to amuse himself occasionally with writ- 
ing verses, some in a vein of trifling elegance, others either im- 
itations or translations of the Latin. Once, however, he wi^ote 
an imitation of the sixty-fifth Psalm, which he sent to his father, 
who said: " I like your verses on the sixty-fifth Psalm, and would 
not have you bury your talent." 

Of his steadfastness in orthodox views there can be no doubt. 
Lifidelity was all abroad, even in his college; but it seems not 
to have touched him. Occasionally the leaven of Pharisaism 
wrought in him, but he had in him nothing of the vulgar, mate- 
rialistic Sadducee. His faculty of belief was sound and soundly 



r 

John a Student of Divinitif. 



49 



exercised. Conscience, however tender, was never allowed to in- 
trude into the office of judgment. The patience and fairness with 
which he inquired into, and reported, many things made the im- 
pression on some that he believed them all."^ 

There is no evidence that when John Wesley went to Oxford 
he intended to become a minister of the Established Church. 
He might intend to devote himself, like his brother Samuel, to 
tutorship; or he might contemplate some other mode of mainte- 
nance. Certain it is that it was not until about the beginning 
of 1725, when he had been more than four years at college, that 
he seems to have been seriously exercised on the subject. The 
thought of obtaining ordination gave an abrupt turn to his stud- 

*The ghost-story lias entered into all AVesleyaii biograpliies. It was during 
John's residence at the Charterhouse tiaat mysterious noises were heard in Ep- 
wortli rectory. The often told story need not be repeated; but there can be no 
question that the Charterhouse youth Avas impressed. He took the trouble of ob- 
taining minute particulars from liis niotlier, and liis four sisters, and others, com- 
petent witnesses. The learned Priestley obtained tlie family letters and journals 
relating to these curious facts, and gave them to tlie world as tlie best authenticated 
and best told story of the kind extant. They call to mind things described by 
Cotton Mather, in the witchcraft of New England. Sometimes moans were heard, 
as from a person dying; at others, it swept through the halls and along the stairs, 
with the sound of a person trailing a loose gown on the floor; the chamber walls, 
meanwhile, shook with vibrations. Before "Jeffrey" (as the children called it) 
came into any room, the latches were frequently lifted up, and the windows clat- 
tered. It seemed to clap the doors, draw tbe curtains, and throw the man-servant's 
shoes up and down. Once it threw open the nursery door. The mastiff barked 
violently at it the first day, yet whenever it came afterward he ran off whining, 
to shelter himself. These noises continued about two months, and occurred, the 
latter part of the time, every day. The family soon came to consider them amus- 
ing freaks, as they were never attended Avith any serious harm ; they all, never- 
theless, deemed them preternatural. Adam Clarke believed them to be demoniacal. 
It Avas evidently, says Southey, a Jacobite goblin, and seldom suffered Mr. Wesley 
to pray for the Hanover king Avithout disturbing the family. John says it gave 
"thundering knocks" at the Amen, and the loyal rector, Avaxing angry at the in- 
sult, sometimes repeated the prayer Avith defiance. Priestley supposed them a trick 
of the servants. Isaac Taylor thinks that the strange EpAA'orth episode so laid 
open Wesley's faculty of belief that ever after a right-of-Avay for the supernatural 
Avas opened through his mind to the end of life. Southey argues that such occur- 
rences haA^e a tendency to ex]3lode the fine-spun theories of materialists Avho deny 
another state of being, and to bring men to the conclusion that there are more 
things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in their j^hilosophy. Tyerman 
says: "We have little doubt that the EpAvorth noises deepened and most poAA^er- 
fully increased Wesley's con\dctions of the existence of an unseen world, and, in 
this AvaA', exercised an important influence on the Avhole of his future life." 

4 



50 



H/'sfori/ of MetJiodhuL 



ies and liis manner of life. He consulted Ins parents, and both 
gave characteristic advice. His father, beginning thus, "As to 
what yon mention of entering into holy orders, it is indeed a 
great work, and I am pleased to find you think it so,"' hints that 
iu his judgment it was rather too earh' for his son to take that 
solemn obligation on him, and advises that he perfect himself in 
Hebrew, etc. His mother urges her son "to greater application 
in the study of pradicaJ. divinity, which, of all other studies, I 
humbly conceive to be the best for candidates for orders." and 
concludes by saying that she had noticed of late an alteration in 
his temper, and trusted that it might proceed from the operations 
of the Holy Ghost. She exhorts him: 

And now. in ,u-ood earnest, resolve to make religion tlie business of your life; 
for. after all. that is the one thini;- which, sirictly -jx-akinL:'. is necessary; all tilings 
beside are ceinparatively little t> i the purprwt;^ of life. I heartily wish yoti vroukl 
now enter U[>;ni a >Triot examination of yourself that you may know whetlier you 
have a reasLiiable hripe of salvation by Jesus Christ. If you have, the satisfaction 
of knowing it will abundantly reward your pains: if you have not. you will find u 
more reasonable occasion for tears than can be met with in a tragedy. 

This excellent advice was not lost upon him; and, indeed, his 
mother's admiralile letters were among the principal means, un- 
der God. of producing that still more decided change in his views 
which soon afterward l^egan to display itself. The young scholar 
threw his who)le strongtli into his work, and devoted himself with 
intense diligence to the study of practical divinity, giving spe- 
cial attenti' in to those books which were likely to guide him to a 
sound judguit-nt in s})iritual matters, and to lead his affections 
toward God. "With this view he carefully studied Thomas a 
Kempis on "The Imitation of Chiist," Bishop Taylor's "Eules 
of Holy Living and Dying." and AVilliam Law's "Serious Call 
to a Devout and Holy Life." From these impressive books he 
learned that true religion does not consist in orthodox opinions, 
nor in correct moral conduct, nor in conformity to the i^urest 
modes of worship, necessary as these things are in their place; 
but in the possession and exercise of the mind that was iu Christ. 
He was anxious, beyomd expiression, to attain inward and out- 
ward holiness as the great end of his being. AVesley writes: 

I began to see that true religion Avas seated in the heart, and that God's law 
extended to all our tliouglns as well as "W(;>rds and acti' .ns. I was, however, angry 
at Kempis for being too strict: though I read him only in Dean Stanhope's trans- 
lation. Yet I had frequently much sensible comfort iu reading him, such as I Avas 



John a Student of Divinity. 



51 



an utter stranger to before. Meeting likewise with a religious friend, which T. 
never had till now, I began to alter the whole form of my conversation, and to set in 
earnest upon a new life. I set apart an hour or two a day for religious retirement. 
I communicated every week. I watched against all sin, whether in word or deed. 
I began to aim at, and to pray for, inward holiness. So that now, doing so much 
and living so good a life, I doubted not that I was a good Christian. 

In reference to Taylor's "Holy Living and Dying," lie ob- 
serves : 

In reading several parts of this book, I was exceedingly affected ; that part in 
particular which relates to purity of intention. Instantly I resolved to dedicate 
all my life to God — all my thoughts, and words, and actions — being thoroughly 
convinced there Avas no medium ; but that every part of my life (not some only) 
must either be a sacrifice to God, or myself — tliat is, in effect, tlie devil. 

But some of Taylor's opinions provoked tlie dissent of the de- 
vout student, and led him more definitely to doctrines wliicli were 
to be vital in the theology of Methodism. The Bishop, in com- 
mon with most theologians of his day, denied that the Christian 
could usually know his acceptance with God. Wesley replied: 
"If we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us (which he Vv-ill not do 
unless we are regenerate), certainly we must be sensible of it. 
If we can never have any certainty of our being in a state of 
salvation, good reason it is that every moment should be spent, 
not in joy, but in fear and trembling; and then, undoubtedly, in 
this life we are of all men most miserable." 

He is feeling after the doctrine of assurance. His mother, to 
whom his difficulties were stated, omits to afford him any assist- 
ance on the point of the possibility of obtaining a comfortable 
persuasion of being in a state of salvation, through the influence 
of the Holy Spirit; which he supposed to be the privilege of a 
real believer, though as yet he was greatly perplexed as to the 
means of attaining it. She says: 

I don't well understand Avhat he [Taylor] means by saying, "Whether God 
has forgiven us or no, Ave know not." If he intends such a certainty of pardon as 
cannot possibly admit of the least doubt or scruple, he is infallibly in the right ; 
for such an absolute certainty Ave can ncA'er have till Ave come to heaven. But if 
he means no more than that reasonable persuasion of the forgiveness of sins, Avhicli 
a true penitent feels Avhen he reflects on the evidences of his OAvn sincerity, he is 
certainly in the AA'rong, for such a firm persuasion is actually enjoyed by a man in 
this life. The virtues AAdiich we have by the grace of God acquired are not of so 
little force as he supposes; for Ave may surely perceive Avhen we have them in any 
good degree. 

Mother and son had not yet distinguished between the witness 
of our own spirit and the witness of the Spirit itself. In his re- 



52 



History of MetJwdism. 



ply lie makes tlie important distinction between assurance of 
present and assurance of future salvation; by confounding which, 
so many, from their objection to the Calvinistic notion of the in- 
fallible perseverance of the saints, have given up the doctrine of 
assurance altogether : 

That we can never be so certain of the pardon of our sins as to be assured thev 
will never rise up against us, I firmly believe. We know that they will infallibly 
do so if ever we apostatize ; and I am not satisfied what evidence there can be of 
our final perseverance till we have finislied our course. But I am persuaded we 
may know if we are now in a state of salvation, since that is expressly promised 
in the Holy Scrij^tures to our sincere endeavors; and we are surely able to judge 
of our own sincerity. 

The latter part of this extract will, however, show how much 
he had yet to learn in Methodist theology. 

On the witness of the Spirit he is not so clear as he is in 
his dissent from the tenet of "final perseverance." The time 
approaches for ordination, and he is naturally exercised over the 
article on predestination. He wrote: 

As I understand faith to be an assent to any truth upon rational grounds, I do 
not think it possible, without perjury, to swear I believe any thing unless I have 
reasonable grounds for my persuasion. Now, that which contradicts reason cannot 
be said to stand upon reasonable grounds; and such, undoubtedly, is every proj^o- 
sition which is incompatible with the divine justice or mercy. What, then, shall 
I say of predestination? If it was inevitably decreed from eternity that a deter- 
minate part of mankind should be saved, and none besides, then a vast majority of 
the world were only born to eternal death, without so much as a possibility of 
avoiding it. How is this consistent with either divine justice or mercy? Is it mer- 
ciful to ordain a creature to everlasting misery? Is it just to punish a man for 
crimes which he could not but commit? That God should be the author of sin and 
injustice, which must, I think, be the consequence of maintaining this oi^inion, is a 
contradiction to the clearest ideas we have of the divine nature and perfections. 

His mother confirmed him in these views, and expressed her 
abhorrence of the Calvinistic theology. Meanwhile she tried to 
solve some of his scruples respecting the article on predestina^ 
tion; and wrote him a long letter, from which we give the follow- 
ing extracts: 

. . Such studies tend more to confound than to inform the understanding, and 
young people had better let them alone. But since I find you have some scruples 
concerning our article. Of Predestination, I will tell you my thoughts of the mat- 
ter. If tliey satisfy not, you may desire your father's direction, who is surely bet- 
ter qualified for a casuist than I. 

The doctrine of predestination, as m^aintained by the rigid Calvinists, is very 
shocking, and ought to be abhorred, because it directly charges the Most High God 
with being the author of sin. I think you reason well and justly against it ; for it 



Ordained Deacon. 



53 



is certainly inconsistent with tlie justice and goodness of God to lay any man under 
either a physical or moral necessity of committing sin, and then to punish him for 
doing it. I firmly believe that God, from eternity, has elected some to eternal life ; 
but then I humbly conceive that this election is founded on his foreknowledge, 
according to Komans viii. 29, 30. Whom, in liis eternal prescience, God saw would 
make a right use of their powers, and accept of offered mercy, he did predestinate 
and adopt for his children. And that they may be conformed to the image of his 
only Son, he calls them to himself, through the preaching of the gospel, and, in- 
ternally by his Holy Spirit; which call tliey obeying, repenting of their sins and 
believing in the Lord Jesus, he justifies them, absolves them from the guilt of all 
their sins, and acknowledges them as just and righteous persons, tlirougli the mer- 
its and mediation of Jesus Christ. And having thus justified, he receives them 
to glory — to heaven. 

This is the sum of what I believe concerning predestination, which I think is 
agreeable to the analogy of faith ; since it does in novrise derogate from the glory 
of God's free grace, nor impair the liberty of man. Kor can it \\lth. more reason 
be supposed that the prescience of God is the cause tluit so many finally perish 
than that our knowing the sun will rise to-morrow is the cause of its rising. 

J olin W esley substantially adopted these predestinarian views, 
as may be seen in liis sermon on the text expounded in the fore- 
going letter; but his notions c£ that faith by which a sinner is 
justified were, at present, far from being clear. 

The time for his ordination was now at hand, and the 
money question required attention. His father writes: "I will 
assist you in the charges for ordination, though I am myself 
just noAV struggling for life. The £8 you may depend on this 
next week, or the week after." And John Wesley was ordained 
deacon, September 19, 1725. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Tlie Fellowship — His Father's Curate — Cutting Off Acquaintances — Charles 
Awakened— The Holy Club— Whit efield and Other Members— Original Meth- 
odists—What Lack I Yet? 



IX months after liis ordination, one of the fellowships of Lin- 



k3 coin College being vacant, Wesley became a candidate for it. 
His preyions seriousness had been the subject of much banter 
and ridicule, and appears to have been urged against him in the 
election by his opponents; but his reputation for learning and 
diligence, and the excellence of his character, triumphed. Here 
again money was wanted to bear the expenses of installation, and 
the father, as usual, strained himself to help. The academic dis- 
tinction achieved was most gratifying to the f amUy, and the sub- 
stantial income attached to the fellowship put an end to his 
wants. Wesley hereafter could maintain himself comfortably, 
and help others also. Henceforth, he said, he "was entirely 
free from worldly cares, for his income was ready for him on 
stated days, and all he had to do was to count it and carry it 
home." His mother, with a full heart, thanked Almighty God 
for his "good success;" and his exultant father wrote: 

Deah Me. Fellow Elect of Lincoln: I have done more than I could for 
you. The last £12 pinched me so hard that I am forced to beg time of your 
brother Sam till after harvest, to pay him the £10 that you say he lent you. ISTor 
sliall I have as much as that, perhaps not £5, to keep my family till after har- 
vest; and I do not expect that I shall be able to do any thing for Chaides when 
he goes to the university. What will be my own fate God only knows. Sed pas- 
si graviora. Wherever I am, my Jack is fellow of Lincoln. 

His literary character was now established at the university. 
All parties acknowledged him to be a man of talents and of 
learning; while his skill in logic was known to be remarkable. 
The result was that though he was only in the twenty-third year 
of his age, he was, in November following, elected Greek lecturer 
and moderator of the classes. 

Wesley, about this period, undertook to rid himself of unprof- 
itable acquaintances. He writes: 

When it pleased God to give me a settled resolution to be not a nominal 
but a real Cliristian (being tlien about twenty-two years of age), my acquaint- 




(54) 



Cliarles at Christ church College. 



00 



ance "were as ignorant of God as myself. But there was this difference — I 
knew my own ignorance; they did not know theirs. I faintly endeavored to help 
them, but in vain. Meantime I found, by sad experience, that even their harmless 
conversation, so called, damped all my good resolutions. I saw no possible vray 
of getting rid of them unless it should please God to remove me to another col- 
lege. He did so, in a manner utterly contrary to all human probability. I was 
elected fellow of a college [Lincoln] where I kncAV not one person. I foresaw 
abundance of people would come to see me, either out of friendship, civility, or 
curiosity; and tliat I should have offers of acquaintance nevv^ and old; but I had 
now fixed my plan, j t resolved to have no acquaintance by chance, but by choice; 
and to choose such only as would help me on my way to heaven.^! In consequence 
of this, I narrowly observed the temper and behavior of all that visited me. 1 
saw no reason to think that the greater part of these truly loved or feared God ; 
therefore, when any of them came to see me, I behaved as courteously as I could ; 
but to the question, "When will you come to see me?" I returned no answer. 
When they had come a few times, and found I still declined returning the visit, I 
saw them no more. And I bless God this has been my invariable rule for about 
three-score years. I knew many reflections would follow, but that did not move 
me, as I knew full Avell it was my calling to go through evil report and good 
report. 

He laid down a severe and systematic course of study, took 
pupils, wrote sermons, keg^ fast-d ays, and was much in prayer. 
The rector of Epwortli^t5ecame less able than fofmS-ly to attend 
to the duties of his parish, and earnestly desired his son John to 
assist him as his curate. He complied with his father's wishes, 
and left Oxford for this purpose in August, 1727; and only for 
priest's orders and Master's degree did he visit Oxford during 
the next two years. He labored diligently. 

What Avere the results? Wesley himself shall tell us: "I 
preached much, but sav/ no fruit of my labor. Indeed, it could not 
be that I should; for I neither laid the foundation of repentance 
nor of believing the gospel; taking it for granted that all to 
whom I preached were believers, and that many of them needed 
no repentance." Meanwhile Cliarles, five years his junior, had 
been elected to Christcliurch College, and entered it about the 
time John left it. For some months after his arrival in Oxford, 
though very agreeable in his spirit and manners, he was far from 
being earnest in his application to study; the strict authority 
over him Avhich his brother Samuel exercised, as his tutor and 
guardian, being now withdrawn. He says: "My first year at 
college I lost in diversions; the next I set myself to study." 
" He pursued his studies diligently," says John, " and led a reg- 
ular, harmless life; but if I sx)oke to him about religion, he would 



56 



History of MetJiodism. 



warmly ans\Yer, ' What, would you liave me to be a saint all at 
once? ' and would hear no more."'^^ 

Such was the state of the two brothers when John left Oxford 
to become his father's curate. But soon after that event, and 
apparently without the intervention of any particular means, 
Charles Wesley also became deeply serious, and earnestly de- 
sired to be a spiritual worshiper of God. Believing that the 
keeping of a diary would further his designs, and knowing that 
his brother had kept such a record for some years, he wrote to 
him, requesting his advice: 

I would willingly write a diary of my actions, but do not know how to go 
about it. AVhat j)articulars am I to take notice of? .... If you would 
direct me to the same or like method to your own I would gladly follow it, for 
I am fully convinced of the usefulness of such an undertaking. I shall be at 

a stand till I hear from you I firmly believe that God will establish 

what he hath begun in me; and there is no one person I would so willingly have 
to be the instrument of good to me as you. It is owing, in great measure, to 
somebody's prayers (my mother's, most likely) that I am come to think as I do ; 
for I cannot tell myself how or wlien I awoke out of my lethargy; only that it 
\vas not long after you went away.f 

This letter was written in the beginning of 1729. 

No sooner had Charles Wesley become devout than he longed 
to be useful to those about him. He began to attend the weekly 
sacrament, and induced two or three other students to attend 
vrith him. The regularity of their behavior led a young colle- 
gian to call them Methodists; and "as the name was new and 
quaint, it clave to them immediately, and from that time all that 
had any connection vvith them w^re thus distinguished.":!: 

- Tlie Oxford Methodists, f The Life and Times of Eev. John Wesley, A.M. 

X The name was in use in England long before it was applied to Wesley and 
his friends. In 1693 a pamphlet was published with the title, "A War among 
the Angels of the Churches: wdierein is shewed the Principles of the New Meth- 
odists in the great point of Justification. By a Country Professor of Jesus Christ." 
And even as early as 1639, in a sermon preached at Lambeth, the following per- 
fumed eloquence occurs: "Where are now our Anabaptists, and plain, pack-stafF 
Methodists, wdio esteem all floAvers of rhetoric in sermons no better than stinking 
weeds, and all elegance of speech no better than profane spells?" Wesley's o^\■n 
definition, as found in his Dictionary, published in 1753: ''A Methodist — one that 
lives according to the method laid down in the Bible." The name of Method- 
ist," it is observed by one of Wesley's correspondents, "is not a new name never 
before given to any religious people. Dr. Calamy, in one of his volumes of tlie 
ejected ministers, observes, They called those who stood up for God, Methodists." 



The First Methodists. 



57 



The duties of liis fellowship recalled John from the coiintr}^ 
late in 1729, and the rector of Lincoln put eleven pnpils under 
his care immediately. "In this employ," he says, "I continued 
till 1735, when I went as a missioner to Georgia." On his return 
to Oxford he naturally took the lead of the little band of Meth- 
odists. They rallied round him at once, feeling his fitness to 
direct them. He was their master-spirit, lind soon compacted 
the organization and planned new methods of living and work- 
ing. The first Methodists were the two AYesleys, w^itli Eobert 
Kirkham and William Morgan. To these were subsequently 
added Whitefield, Clayton, Broughton, Ingham, Hervey, White- 
lamb, IIall, Gambold, Kinchin, Smith, Salmon, Wogan, Boyce, 
Atkinson, and others. Some of them made history. John Gam- 
bold became a Moravian bishop, but like the leaders of the Holy 
Club, it was not until after years of laborious endeavor to estab- 
lish a righteousness of his ovrn that he was led to submit to 
"the righteousness of God, by faith of Jesus Christ." He gives 
an original and inside viev/ of the organization: 

About the middle of ^rarcli, 1730, 1 became acquainted Avitli Mr. Charles Wes- 
ley of Christ College. I was just tlicn come r.p fr. >m the country, and had made 
a resolution to find out some pior.s persons to keep company Y>-ith. I had been, 
for two years before, in deep melancholy. Xo man did care for my soul; or none 
at least understood its paths. One day an old accj[uaintance entertained me with 
some reflections on the whimsical AVesley, his preciseness and pious extrava- 
gances. Upon hearing tliis, I suspected he miglit be a good Christian. I therefore 
went to his room, and without any ceremony desired the benefit of his conversation. 
I had so large a share of it henceforth that hardly a day passed, while I was at col- 
lege, but we were together once, if not oftener. After some time he introduced 
me to his brother John, of Lincoln College. ''For," said he, "he is somewhat 
older than T, and can resolve your doubts better." This, as I found afterward, 
Avas a thing which he was deeply sensible of; for I never observed any person 
have a more real deference for another than he constantly had for his brother. . 
I shall say no more of Charles, but that he was a man made for friendship; who, 
by his cheerfulness and vivacity, would refresh his friend's heart ; and by a habit 
of openness and freedom, leave no room for misunderstanding. 

The Wesleys were already talked of for some religious practices, which were 
first occasioned by ]\Ir. Morgan, of Cliristchurch. From these combined friends 
began a little society; for several others, from time to time, fell in; most of them 
only to be improved by their serious and useful discourse; and some few espous- 
ing all their resolutions and their whole way of life. 

jNIr. John Wesley Avas always the chief manager, for Avhicli he was very fit; for 
he not only had more learning and experience than the rest, but he vras blest with 
such activity as to be ahvays gaining ground, and such steadiness that he lost none. 
AVhat proposals he made to any AVere sure to charm them, because he Avas so much 



58 



History of Methodism. 



in earnest; nor could they afterward slight them, hecaiise they saw him always the 
same. To this I may add that he had, I think, something of authority in his 
countenance ; though, as he did not want address, he could soften his manner, and 
point it as occasion required. 

It was their custom to meet most evenings either at liis chamber or one of the 
others, where, after some prayers (the chief object of which was charity), they ate 
their supper together, and he read some book. But the chief business was to re- 
view what each had done that day, in pursuance of their common design, and to 
consult what steps were to be taken the next. Their undertaking included several 
particulars: To converse with young students, to visit the prisons, to instruct some 
poor families, and to take care of a school and a i3arish work-house. 

They took great pains with the younger members of the university, to rescue 
them from bad company, and encourage them in a sober, studious life. If they 
had some interest with any such, they would get them to breakfast, and over a 
dish of tea, endeavor to fasten some good hint. . For some years past he and 
his friends read the New Testament together at evening. After every portion of 
it, having heard the conjectures the rest had to offer, he made his observations on 
the phrase, design, and difficult places. One or two wrote tliese down from his 
mouth. He laid much stress upon self-examination. He taught them to take 
account of their actions in a very exact manner by writing a constant diary. 
Then, to keep in their minds an awful sense of God's presence, with a constant 
dependence on his help, he advised them to cjaculatory prayers. They had a 
book of Ejaculations relating to the chief virtues, and, lying by them as they stood 
at their studies, they at intervals snatched a short petition out of it. But at last, 
instead of that variety, they contented themselves with the following aspirations 
(containing acts of faith, hope, love, and self-resignation at the end of every hour) : 
"Consider and hear me," etc. Tlie last means he recommended was meditation 
Their usual time for this Avas the hour next before dinner. After this he com- 
mitted them to God. What remained for him to do was to encourage them in the 
discomforts and temptations they might feel, and to guard them against all spirit- 
ual delusions. In this spiritual care of his acquaintance, Mr. Wesley persisted 
amidst all discouragements. He overlooked not only one's absurd or disagreea- 
ble qualities, but even his coldness and neglect of him, if he thought it might be 
conquered. He helped one in things out of religion, that he might be more wel- 
come to help him in that. His knowledge of the Avorld and his insiglit into 
physic were often of use to us. 

A meditative piety did not cover the whole ground of the Ox- 
ford Methodists. They studied how to do good in the prisons 
and among the poor. Doubtless methods and their results were 
often discnssed. Gambold continues his account: 

Wlien a new prisoner came, their conversation with him for four or five times 
was particularly close and searching. Whether he bore no malice toward those 
that did prosecute him, or any others? Tlie first time, after professions of good- 
will, they only inquired of his circumstances in the world. Such questions 
imported friendship, and engaged the man to open his heart. Afterward they 
entered upon such inquiries as most concern a prisoner: Whether lie submitted to 



The ''Hohj Cluhr 



69 



this disposal of Providence; whether he repented of his pagt life; last of all 
they asked liim whetlier he constantly used private prayer, and whether he had 
ever communicated. Thus, most or all the prisoners were spoken to in their 
turns. But, if any one was either under sentence of death, or appeared to liave 
some intentions of a new life, they came every day to his assistance ; and partook 
in the conflict and susi)ense of those wlio should now be found ahle, or not able, to 
lay hold on salvation. In order to release those who vrere confined for small debts, 
and were bettered by their affliction, and likewise to purchase books, pliysic, and 
otheT necessaries, they raised a small fund, to which many of their acquaintance 
contributed quarterly. They had prayers at the Castle most Wednesdays and 
Fridays, a sermon on Sundays, and the Sacrament once a montli. When they un- 
dertook any poor family, they saw them at least once a w^eek ; sometimes gave them 
money, admonished them of their vices, read to them, and examined their chil- 
dren. The school was, I think, of Mr. Wesley's own setting up. At all events, 
lie paid the mistress and clotlied some, if not all, of tlie children. When they 
went thither they inquired how each cliild beliaved, saw their Avork (for some 
could knit and spin), heard them read, heard them their prayers and catechism, 
and explained part of it. In tlie same manner they taught the children in the 
Avork-house, and read to the old people as they did to the prisoners. 

Though some practices of Mr. AVesley and his friends were much blamed, they 
seldom took any notice of the accusations brought against them ; but if they made 
any reply it was commonly such a plain and simple one as if there was nothing- 
more in the case, but that they had lieard such doctrines of their Saviour, and be- 
lieved and done accordingly. 

In August, 1732, Wesley was made a member of " The Society 
for tlie Propagation of Christian Knowledge;" and during his 
stay in London, received from Clayton a long letter, a few sen- 
tences from which will help to give the reader an insight into 
the prison-work of the Oxford Methodists: 

All the felons were acquitted, except Salmon, who is to be tried at Warwick ; 
and the sheep-stealer, who is burnt in the hand, and is a great penitent. Jempro 
is discharged, and I have appointed Harris to read to tlie prisoners in his stead. 
Two of the felons likewise have paid their fees and are gone out, both of them 
able to read mighty well. There are only two in the gaol who want this accom- 
plishment — John Clanville, who reads but moderately; and the horse-stealer, who 
cannot read at all, though he knows all his letters and can spell most of the mon- 
osyllables. I hear them both read three times a week, and I believe Salmon hears 
them so many times daily. The woman, who was a perfect novice, spells tolerably; 
and so does one of the boys; and the other makes shift to read with sjjelling every 
word that is longer than ordinary. They can both say their catechism to the end 
of the commandments, and can likewise repeat the morning and evening j^rayers 
for children in Ken's Manual.'^ 

In all this the world saw naught but oddity and folly, and called 
these hard-working tutors and godly students "Bible bigots," and 



* Tyerman's Oxford Methodists. 



60 



Hlstonj of Methodism. 



"Bible moths.''' In the university John Wesley and his friends 
became a common topic of mirth, and were jeeringly designated 
" The Holy Clnb." John consulted his father, and was encour- 
aged: "As to your designs and employments, what can I say less 
than Vcdde proho [I strongly approve]; and that I have the high- 
est reason to bless God that he has given me two sons together at 
Oxford, to whom he has granted grace and courage to turn the 
war against the world and the devil? I hear my son John has 
the honor of being styled the ' Father of the Holy Club ; ' if it be 
so, I must be the grandfather of it; aud I need not say that I 
had rather any of my sons should be so dignified and distin- 
guished than to have the title of His Holiness^ 

Once during John Wesley's absence from Oxford, the little 
band, through persecution and desertion, was greatly weakened; 
at another time he returned to find it reduced from twenty-seven 
to five — showing clearly that he was the soul of the movement. 
In 1732 James Hervey, author of the "Meditations," joined them. 
His very popular and peculiar style of writing turned the atten- 
tion of the upper classes of society to religious subjects perhaps 
more than any other writer of his time. The next year came 
George Whitefield. Though they diverged from Wesley after- 
ward, they lived, labored, and died "Methodists." 

Whitefield has left a characteristic account of his connection 
with the "Holy Club." He was born in 1714, at the Bell Inn, 
Bristol. "If I trace myself," he says, "from my cradle to my 
manhood, I can see nothing in me but a fitness to be damned." 
Yet Whitefield could trace early movings of his heart, which 
satisfied him in after-life that " God loved him with an everlast- 
ing love, and had separated him even from his mother's womb, 
for the work to which he afterward was pleased to call him." 
He had a devout disposition and a tender heart, so far as these 
terms can fitly characterize unregenerate men. 

When about fifteen years old he " put on his blue apron and his 
snuffers," washed mops, cleaned rooms, and became a " common 
drawer." He gave evidence of his natural powers of eloquence in 
school declamations, and while in the Bristol Inn composed two 
or three sermons. Hearing of the possibility of obtaining an 
education at Oxford, as a "poor student," he prepared himself 
and went thither, and was admitted a servitor of Pembroke Col- 
lege. The Methodists were not only the common butt of Oxford 



Experiences of the Oxford Methodist. 



01 



ridicule, but their fame had spread as far as Bristol before White- 
field left his home. He had "loyed them," he tells us, before he 
entered the university. He longed to be acquainted with them, 
and often watched them passing through the sneering crowds, to 
receive the sacrament at St. Mary's; but he was a poor youth, 
the servitor of other students, and shrunk from obtruding him- 
self upon their notice. At length a woman, in one of the work- 
houses, attempted to cut her throat; and Whitefield, knowing that 
both the Wesleys were ready for every good work, sent a poor 
aged apple-woman to inform Mr. Charles Wesley of it, charging 
her not to discover who sent her. She went, but contrary to 
orders told his name, and this led Charles to invite him to break- 
fast next morning. He was now introduced to the rest of the 
Methodists, and he also, like them, " began to live by rule, and 
pick up the very fragments of his time, that not a moment might 
be lost." Being in great distress about his soul, he lay whole 
days prostrate on the ground, in silent or vocal prayer ; he chose 
the worst sort of food; he fasted twice a week; he wore woolen 
gloves, a patched gown, and dirty shoes; and, as a penitent, 
thought it unbecoming to have his hair poAvdered. 

This neglect of his person lost him patronage and cut off some 
of his pay. Charles Wesley lent him a book, " The Life of God 
in the Soul of Man;" and he says: 

Though I had fasted, watched, and prayed, and received the sacrament so long, 
yet I never knew wliat true religion was, till God sent me that excellent treatise 
by the hands of my never-to-be-forgotten friend. In reading that "true religion 
was a union of the soul with God, and Christ formed Avithin us," a ray of divine 
light was instantaneously darted in upon my soul; and from that moment, but not 
till then, did I know that I must be a new creature. The first thing I was called 
to give up for God was what the world calls my fair reputation. I had no sooner 
received the sacrament publicly on a week-day, at St. Mary's, but I was set up as a 
mark for all the polite students that knew me to shoot at. By this tliey knew that 
I was commenced Methodist. Mr. Charles Wesley walked with me, in order to 
confirm me, from the church even to the college. I confess, to my shame, I would 
gladly have excused him; and the next day, going to his room, one of our fellows 
passing by, I was ashamed to be seen to knock at his door. But, blessed be God, 
the fear of man gradually wore off. As I had imitated jSTicodemus in his coward- 
ice, so, by the divine assistance, I followed him in his courage. I confessed the 
Methodists more and more publicly every day. I walked openly with them, and 
chose rather to bear contempt with those people of God than to enjoy the applause 
of almost-Christians for a season. 

It may be inferred, but might as well be stated on the testi- 
mony of John Wesley, that it was the practice of the Oxford 



62 



HisfoFij of Mefliodism. 



Methodists to give away eacli year all they had after providing 
for their own necessities; and then, as an illustration, he adds, 
in reference to himself: "One of them had thirty pounds a year. 
He lived on twenty-eight, and gave away forty shillings. The 
next year, receiving sixty pounds, he still lived on twenty-eight, 
and gave away thirty-two. The third year lie received ninety 
pounds, and gave away sixty-two. The fourth j^ear he received 
a hundred and twenty pounds; still he lived as before on twenty- 
eight, and gave to the poor all the rest." Such was the typical 
Oxford Methodist. 

He maintained the doctrine of apostolical succession, and be- 
lieved no one had authority to administer the sacraments who 
was not episcopaJJ u oTddJmQdi. He religiously observed saint-days 
and holidays, and excluded Dissenters from the holy communion, 
on the ground that they had not been properly baptized. He 
observed ecclesiastical discipline to the minutest points, and 
was scrupulously strict in practicing rubrics and canons. 

In fasting, in mortification, in alms-giving, in well-doing, and 
by keex^ing the whole law, he sought purity of heart and peace 
of conscience. He was intensely earnest, sincere, and self-deny- 
ing. In all this, while a prodigy of piety in the eyes of man, there 
was a felt want of harmony with God, and a feebleness amount- 
ing to impotency, in the propagation of his faith among men. 
Like one of old, he could say: "I might also have confidence in 
the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he 
might trust in the flesh, I more." Sacramentarian, ritualist, le- 
galist: "What lack I yet?" 



CHAPTER V. 



Breaking up of the Epwortli Family — Death and Widowhood — The Parents - 
The Daughters and tlieir History. 

THE year 1735 witnessed the breaking up of the two families 
in which Methodism was born and nursed — one at Epworth 
and the other at Oxford. After a faithful ministry of forty-seven 
years, Samuel Wesley died in April. He had been manifestly 
ripening for his change, and in his last moments had the conso- 
lation of the presence of his two sons, John and Charles. From 
both of them we have accounts of the death-bed scene. 

Charles, writing a long letter two days after the funeral to his 
brother Samuel, says: "You have reason to envy us, who could 
attend him in the last stage of his illness. The few words he 
could utter I saved, and hope never to forget. Some of them 
were : ' Nothing too much to suffer for heaven. The weaker I am 
in body, the stronger and more sensible support I feel from God. 
There is but a step between me and 'death.' The fear of death 
he had entirely conquered, and at last gave up his latest human 
desires of finishing Job, paying his debts, and seeing you. He 
often laid his hand upon my head and said: 'Be steady. The 
Christian faith will surely revive in this kingdom; you shall see 
it, though I shall not.' To my sister Emily, he said: 'Do not be 
concerned at my death; God will then begin to manifest himself 
to my family.' On my asking him whether he did not find him- 
self worse, he replied: 'O my Charles, I feel a great deal; God 
chastens me with strong pain, but I praise him for it, I thank 
him for it, I love him for it! ' On the 25th his voice failed him, 
and nature seemed entirely spent, when, on my brother's asking 
whether he was not near heaven, he answered distinctly, and 
vdth the most of hope and triumph that could be expressed in 
sounds, ' Yes, I am.' He spoke once more, just after my brother 
had used the commendatory prayer; his last words were, 'Now 
you have done all! ' " 

John Wesley, in his sermon on Love, preached at Savannah 
(1736), adverts to his father's death: "When asked, not long be- 
fore his release, 'Are the consolations of God small with you?' 
he replied aloud, 'No, no, no!' and then callmg all that were 

(()8) 



G4 



IL'sfo)-!/ of Methodism. 



near him by their names, he said: ' Think of heaven, talk of heav- 
en; all the time is lost T\ hen we are not thinking of heaven.' " 

In his controversy Vv'ith Archbishop Seeker (1748), on the doc- 
trine of the witness of the Spirit, he cites personal experience: 

My father did not die unacquainted Avitli tlie faith of the gospel, of the primi- 
tive Christians, or of our first Eeformers; the same which, by the grace of God, I 
preacli, and which is just as new as Christianity. What lie experienced before I 
knoAV not ; but I know that, during his last illness, which continued eight months, 
he enjoyed a clear sense of his acceptance with God. I heard him express it more 
than once, although, at that time, I understood him not. "The inward witness, 
son, the invrard witness," said he to me, ''that is the jjroof, the strongest proof of 
Christianity." And when I asked him (tlie time of his change drawing nigh), 
''Sir, are you in much pain?" he answered aloud with a smile: "God does chas- 
ten me with pain — -yea, all my bones with strong pain; but I thank him for all, I 
bless him for all, I love him for all I " I think the last words he spoke, when I 
had just commended his soul to God, were, "Now you have done all!" and, with 
the same serene, cheerful countenance, he fell asleep without one struggle, or sigh, 
or groan. I cannot therefore doul)t but tlie Spirit of God bore an inward witness 
with his spirit that he was a child of God. 

In the long sickness that preceded death the good old rector 
had occasion to acknovvdedge the kindness of his people. He 
outlived the brutal hostility with which he was met during the 
first years of his residence at Epworth, and his dozen communi- 
cants had increased to above a hundred. One of his sayings was, 
"The Lord will give me at the last all my children, to meet in 
heaven." To him belongs the distinction of being "the father 
of the greatest evangelist of modern times, and of the best sa- 
cred poet that has flourished during the Christian era." That 
the three sons of Epworth parsonage became polished shafts is 
largely due to the scholarly inspiration and care of their father. 
He had, under great difficulties, obtained a university education 
himself, and could not^be content with a less heritage for them. 

Samuel Wesley Avas buried in his church-yard; and upon the 
tombstone his Avidow had these words inscribed as part of the 
epitaph: "As he lived so he died, in the true catholic faith of 
the Holy Trinity in Unity, and that Jesus Clwist is God incar- 
nate, and the only Saviour of mankind." 

Methodism owes a debt to endowed scholarships, fellowships, 
and institutions of learning. "Without them, Samuel Wesley and 
his sons, with George Whitefield, must have gone without the 
educational outfit which, under God, so mightily prepared them 
for their life-work. John was maintained six years at Char- 



Death of Mrs. Wesleij. 



65 



terhouse, and tlience sent forward to Oxford upon this founda- 
tion. As fellow of Lincoln College, he matured and enlarged 
his post-graduate attainments, and upon this income initiated 
Methodism before it was organized so as to support its ministry. 
In the same way Charles, after becoming a "king's scholar," at 
Westminster, went through that fine training-school., and after- 
ward graduated at the university. The income of Epworth Avas 
utterly unable to bear these charges. The arrangement that made 
it possible for the elder Wesley and for George Whitefield to get 
through as " servitors " is part of the same wisdom that lays a 
"foundation" to bless the ages. Let one think, if he can, of 
Methodism without these four men; and think of these four men 
without education. 

Those dying-words to his children, " The Christian "faith will 
surely revive in this kingdom; you shall see it, though I shall 
not," were prophetic. Seven years afterward, John stood on that 
tombstone and preached the gospel to great and awakened mul- 
titudes, "with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." 

A veil is drawn over the parting from old Epworth. Neither 
of the sons could be prevailed on to succeed their father in the 
rectory, and so the connection of the family with the spot en- 
deared by associations extending over forty years comes to an end. 
Beautiful in sorrow, and with the weight of years added to her 
solitary condition, the mother leaves the memorable place to spend 
the seven years of her earthly pilgrimage as a widow in about 
equal portions with four of her children, Emilia, Samuel at Tiv- 
erton, Martha, and John in London. In the last change she 
gathered her five living daughters around her at the Foundry, 
and, not far from where she commenced, there in peaceful 
quiet she closed the journey of life, after a glorious but suf- 
fering career of seventy-three years. They stood round the bed, 
and fulfilled her last request, uttered a little before she lost her 
speech: "Children, as soon as I am released, sing a psalm of 
praise to God." Released was her beautiful thought of death."^ 

■^Dr. Adam Clarke, in summing up the incidents of her life, says: "I have been 
acquainted with many pious females; I have read the lives of others; but such a 
Avoman, take her for all in all, I have not heard of, I have not read of, nor with 
her equal have I been acquainted. Such a one Solomon has described at the end 
of his Proverbs ; and adapting his words I can say, ' Many daughters have done 
virtuously, but Susanna Wesley has excelled them all.' " 
5 



66 



History of Methodism. 



Still further anticipating history, before taking final leave of 
the family, we glance at the seven daughters — gifted, cultivated, 
affectionate, and some of them beautiful women. What unhappy 
marriages, leading to unhaj^py lives! This may not be accounted 
for on the theory that over-education unfitted them for their 
social sphere. Let us rather look for the cause in a state of 
things that has not wholly disappeared in our own day — the few 
suitable avenues that were open to educated women for self-sup- 
port. Emily, the oldest, was a woman in whom virtue, form, and 
wit were combined in harmony. She had an exc[uisite taste for 
music and poetry. Her brother John pronounced her the best 
reader of IMilton he had ever heard. 

Her letters to her brothers are fine specimens of writing. She 
was occasionall}^ impatient at the straits of the situation, and no 
wonder. The money spent on "those London journeys" and 
"convocations of blessed memory" would, in her opinion, have 
been better spent in quieting "endless duns and debts," and in 
buying clothes for the family. 

While John was playing at ritualism, he seems to have pro- 
posed to her confession and penance. The reply is thoroughly 
Wesleyan : 

Xow what can I answer? To indicate my own piety looks vain and ridiculous; 
to :^ay I am in so Lad a Avay as you suppose me to be would perhaps be unjust to 
niy.-L'lf and untliankiul to God. To lay open the state of my soul to you, or any 
01 our clcrsy. is what I have no manner of inclination to at present, and believe I 
never shall. Xor shall I jmt my conscience under the direction of mortal man, 
frail as myself. To my own Master I stand or fall ; yea, I shall not scruple to say 
that all sucli desires in you. r,r any other ecclesiastic, seem to me to look very much 
like Church tyrauny. an 1 ;i--:uiunL^ to yourselves a dominion over yotir fellow- 
creatures which never was designed you by God. 

She married a dull and thriftless man— a "tradesman without 
a trade" — and by keeyjing a scantily furnished boarding-school, 
she supported herself and him. Lor many years a "widow 
indeed," she was useful in her brother's "classes," and died at 
fourscore. 

Lrom injury received in infancy, Mary grew up deformed in 
body and short in stature, but beautiful in face and in mind. 
This condition exposed her to unseemly remarks from the igno- 
rant and vulgar when she walked abroad. She alone seems to 
have been married to suit herself and others; but in one short 
year mother and babe lay in the semp ^rrnve. Wh^i^ Charles 



The Wesleij Daughters. 



67 



was passing tlirongii college, worrying witli a short purse, slie 
wrote: ''Dear brother, I beg you not to let the present straits 
you labor under narrow your mind, or render you morose or 
churlish in your converse with your acquaintance, but rather re- 
sign yourself and all your affairs to Him who best knows what 
is fittest for you, and will never fail to provide for whoever sin- 
cerely trusts in him. I think I may say I have lived in a state 
of affliction ever since I was born, being the ridicule of mankind 
and the reproach of my family, and I dare not think God deals 
hardly with me." A lovely character, her death was rich in ele- 
gies from the gifted family. 

Anne was so matched as to lead a quiet if not hap|)y life. Her 
husband was kind, but intemperate. Susanna's husband was 
rich, but coars-j and depraved. The rector sjjoke of him as the 
"wen of my family; " and the rector's wife, in the anguish of a 
mother's heart, wrote to a childless relative : 

My second daughter, Sukey, a pretty woman, and worthy a better fate, rashly 
threw away herself upon a man (if a man he may be called who is little inferior 
to the apostate angels in wickedness) that is not only her plague, but a con- 
stant affliction to the family. O sir I O brother I happy, thrice happy, are you; 
liappy is my sister, that buried your children in infancy! secure from temptation, 
secure from guilt, secure from waut or shame, or loss of friends! TJiey are safe 
beyond the reach of pain or sense of misery; being gone hence, nothing cantoucli 
them further. Believe me, sir, it is better to mourn ten children dead than one 
living; and I have buried many. 

His conduct to his wife is represented as harsh and despotic, 
and under his unkindness " she well-nigh sunk into the grave." 
At last she fled from him, and found a peaceful death with her 
children. Some of her last words, after she had been speech- 
less for some time were, "Jesus is here! Heaven is love!" 
Wesleyan missionaries to the Yfest Indies, and ministers for the 
Established Church, were of her offspring.* 

In Hetty [Mehetabel] nearly all the graces and gifts of her 
brothers and sisters were combined. Her personal appearance, 
accomplishments, and mental endowments were remarkable, 

^^The bad, rich man, her husband, became beggarly poor at the last, and also 
penitent. Charles AVesley says (London, April 11, 1760): "Yesterday evening I 
buried my brother Ellison. He believed God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven him. 
I felt a most solemn awe overwhelming me while I committed his body to the 
earth. He is gone to increase my father's joy in paradise, who often said every 
one of his children Avould be saved, for God had given them all to him in answer to 
prayer. God grant I may not be the single exception!" 



68 



History of Methodism. 



even for the Wesley family. At the age of eight years she had 
made such proficiency in classical knowledge that she could read 
the Greek Testament. Good judges pronounced her poetic gift 
equal to her younger brother's. Her fancy, wit, and gen- 
ius outran her judgment, and caused her parents both anxiety 
and trouble. Her ill-fated marriage took place during the year 
1725. Never perhaps were two persons, united in marriage, 
more unsuited to each other. Her husband was illiterate, vul- 
gar, and unkind; of loose habits, and given to drink. 

The following verses were breathed out of Hetty's soul on the 
early death of her first-born. In an ill-spelled note, the father 
conveyed the sad news to the two brothers, and adds a postscript : 

PS. — Ive sen you Sum Verses that my wife maid of Dear Lamb Let me hear 
from one or both of you as Soon as you think Conveniant. W. W. 

A Mother's Address to Her Dying Infant. 

Tender softness ! infant mild ! 
Perfect, purest, brightest child ! 
Transient luster! beauteous clay! 
Smiling wonder of a day ! 
Ere the last convulsive start 
Rend thy unresisting heart ; 
Ere the long-enduring swoon 
Weigh thy i:)recious eyelids doAvn ; 
Ah, regard a mother's moan. 
Anguish deeper than thy own ! 

Fairest eyes ! whose dawning light 
Late with rapture blest my sight, 
Ere your orbs extinguished be. 
Bend their trembling beams on me ! 

Drooping sweetness ! verdant flower, 
Blooming, withering in an hour ! 
Ere thy gerntle breast sustains 
Latest, fiercest, mortal pains. 
Hear a suppliant ! let me be 
Partner in thy destiny : 
That whene'er the fatal cloud 
Must thy radiant temples shroud ; 
When deadly damps, impending now. 
Shall hover round thy destined brow. 
Diffusive may their influence be. 
And Avith the blossom l)last the tree ! 

September, 1728. 

With a degree of perverseness, Hetty held out long, but finally 
and heartily became a Methodist, and died well. By and by the 



Martha Outlives the Epworth Family. 



69 



dolt and drunkard, who had wearied and worried the life out of 
her, came to his end praying and repenting, and her forgiving 
brothers ministered to him and buried him.* 

At a time when she believed and hoped that she should soon 
be at peace in the grave, she composed this epitaph for herself: 

Destined while living to sustain 
An equal sliare of grief and pain, 
All various ills of human race 
"Within this breast had once a place. 
Without com}»laint she learn' d to bear 
A living death, a long despair ; 
Till hard oppress' d by adverse fate, 
O'ercharged, she sunk beneath the weight, 
And to this peaceful tomb retired, 
So much esteem' d, so long desir'd. 
The painful, mortal conflict's o'er; 
A broken heart can bleed no more. 

The youngest of the family died unmarried, after a disap- 
pointment that embittered her life. Her death was witnessed 
by Charles, who had often wept and prayed with her. He 
writes (March 10, 1741): "Yesterday morning sister Kezzy died 
in the Lord Jesus. He finished his work and cut it short in 
mercy. Full of thankfulness, resignation, and love, without 
pain or trouble, she commended her spirit into the hands of Je- 
sus, and fell asleep." 

Martha was the counterpart of John. The points of similar- 
ity in person, manners, habits of thought, patient endurance, 
and in other respects, were so marked that Dr. Adam Clarke, 
who had an intimate personal knowledge of both, has said that 
if they could have been seen dressed alike it would not have 
been possible to distinguish the one from the other. Her letters 
to her brothers make a part of that admirable correspondence 
by which the current of love and mutual confidence was kept 
flowing through every member of the family. Writing to John 
v»dien he was standing for his fellowship, she says: "I believe 
you very well deserve to be happy, and I sincerely wish you may 
be so, both in this life and the next. For my own particular, I 
have long looked upon myself to be what the world calls ruined — 
that is, I believe there will never be any provision made for me ; 
but when my father dies I shall have my choice of three things : 

Stevenson's Memorials of the Wesley Family. 



70 



History of Methodism. 



starving, going to a common service, or marrying meanly, as my 
sisters have done; none of which I like." She married Westley 
Hall, a clergyman — an Oxonian, and one of the original " Holy 
Club." He is described by Dr. A. Clarke as "a curate in the 
Church of England, who became a Moravian, a Quietist, a Deist 
(if not an Atheist), and a Polygamist — which last he defended 
in his teaching and illustrated by his practice." Her husband 
deserted her, her children died. She was never known to speak 
unkindly of him, even at the worst. She was the friend of 
Samuel Johnson, and often took tea with the literary Jove, who 
enjoyed her Christian refinement and quiet wisdom; and these 
occasions furnished Boswell with quotable paragraphs. To one 
speaking of her severe trials she replied: "Evil was not kept 
from me; but evil has been kept from harming me." Even 
when rex^roving sin, she was so gentle that no one was ever known 
to be offended thereby. Her kindly nature remained unchanged 
to the end of life, and she lived to be eighty-five — outliving 
all the Epworth family. John Wesley remembered his sister 
in his will, leaving her a legacy of £40, to be paid out of the 
proceeds of the sale of his books. Her last illness was brief; 
she had no disease, but a mere decay of nature. She spoke of 
her dissolution with the same tranquillity with which she spoke 
of every thing else. A little before her departure she said: "I 
have now a sensation that convinces me that my departure is 
near; the heart-strings seem gently but entirely loosened." Her 
niece asked her if she was in pain. "No, but a new feeling." 
Just before she closed her eyes she bid her niece come near; 
she pressed her hand, and said: "I have the assurance which I 
have long prayed for. Shout! " — and expired. Her remains 
Avere interred in the City Eoad burial-ground, in the same vault 
with her brother ; and on her tomb is the f oUovring inscription : 
" She opened her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue was the 
law of kindness (Prov. xxxi. 26)." 



CHAPTER VI. 



The Oxford Family Broken Up — Glances at the History of its Several Members — 
The Georgia Colony — Why the Wesleys went as Missionaries. 

THEEE was a strong missionary spirit in the Wesley family 
when Christian missions to the heathen scarce existed. 
The John Wesley of 1662, after being ejected from his church- 
living, longed to go as a missionary to Maryland. Samuel Wes- 
ley, his son, when a young man, formed a magnificent scheme 
for the East, and was willing to undertake the mission under the 
Government's patronage. Now the Georgia Colony invites his 
sons, and they go. General Oglethorpe, its founder and govern- 
or, having taken out the first company of emigrants and settled 
them, published that a door vv^as opened for the conversion of 
the Indians; and nothing seemed to be wanting but a minister 
who understood their language. 

There is a good deal of romance in the conception of a mis- 
sion to the heathen, as many ardent minds conceive of it; and 
John Wesley was not an exception. The charm of the mystic 
writers still hung about him ; it was to be dispelled in the wilds 
of America. Though he had not embraced the peculiar senti- 
ments of those who were grossly unscriptural, yet he still be- 
lieved many of the mystic writers were, to use his own words, 
"the best explainers of the gospel of Christ; " and those that 
are supposed to be the purest of them continually cry out, " To 
the desert! to the desert!" At this time, having only attained 
to what St. Paul calls "the spirit of bondage unto fear," he 
found that company and almost every person discomposed his 
mind, and that all his senses were ready to betray him into sin, 
upon every exercise. All within him, as well as every creature he 
conversed with, tended to extort that bitter cry, " O wretched 
man that I am! who shall deliver me? " No wonder he should 
close in with a proposal which seemed at one stroke to cut him 
off from both the smiling and the frowning world, and to enable 
him to be crucified with Christ, which he then thought could be 
only thus attained. 

All our Atlantic coast had been taken up by charters and grants, 
save a narrow sea-front between the Savannah and the Altamaha 

(71) 



72 



History of Methodism. 



rivers. Tlie Spaniards were in Florida, the English in the Car- 
olinas, and the French in Canada and Louisiana. On the 9th of 
June, 1732, a charter was obtained from George II., erecting this 
thin slice of America into the Province of Georgia, and appoint- 
ing Oglethorpe and twenty other gentlemen trustees to hold the 
same for a period of twenty-one years, "in trust for the poor." 
The name of Georgia was given to it in compliment to the sov- 
reign under whose auspices it was commenced, and who sub- 
scribed c£500. The design of the undertaking was twofold. It 
was to be an outlet to the redundant population at home, espe- 
cially of London; and to be an asylum for such foreign Protest- 
ants as were harassed by popish persecution. 

Those were days of harsh government. The gallows was the 
penalty for petty thefts; and each year at least four thousand 
unhappy men in Great Britain were immured in prison for the 
misfortune of being poor. A small debt Avas enough to expose 
a struggling man to imprisonment. A Parliamentary commis- 
sion under Oglethorpe resulted in the release of hundreds. The 
persecution of the Moravians and the Saltzburgers in popish 
states excited the sympathy and indignation of Protestant En- 
gland. The Bank of England presented a donation of X10,000; 
an equal amount was voted by the House of Commons ; and the 
total sum raised, with but little effort, was =£36,000. AYithin live 
months after the signing of the charter, the first company of em- 
igrants — one hundred and twenty-six in number — set sail, with 
Oglethorpe as their commander. In February, 1733, the colo- 
nists reached the high bluff on which Savannah stands. The 
streets of the intended town were laid out, and the houses were 
constructed on one model. Other ship-loads followed, and more 
colonists found homes there. Each fi^eeholder was allotted fifty 
acres of ground, five of which were near Savannah, and the re- 
maining forty-five farther off. Thus began the Commonwealth 
of Georgia. 

In a letter dated October 10, 1735, Wesley gives his reasons 
for going to Georgia : 

Mv chief motive is tlie hope of saving my own soul. I hope to ] earn the true 
sense of the gospel of Clirist hy preaching it to the heathen. They have no com- 
ments to construe away the text ; no vain pliilosophy to corrupt it ; no luxurious, 
sensual, covetous, ambitions expounders to soften its unpleasing truths. They 
have no party, no interest to serve, and are therefore fit to receive the gospel in 
its simplicity. They are as little children, humble, willing to learn, and eager to 



The Georgia Colony. 



73 



do, the will of God. A right faith will, I trust, by the mercy of God, open the 
Avay for a right practice ; especially when most of those temptations are removed 
which here so easily beset me. It will be no small thing to be able, without fear 
of giving offense, to live on water and the fruits of the earth. An Indian hut af- 
fords no food for curiosity, no gratification of the desire of grand, or new, or pretty 
things. The pomp and show of the world have no place in the wilds of America. 

And lie sums np all in one sentence : " I cannot hope to attain 
the same degree of holiness here which I may there." An excel- 
lent authority * thus explains the state of the two brothers: "Ac- 
cording to their apprehensions, true holiness is attained princi- 
pally by means of sufferings — mental and bodily; and hence 
they adopted this mode of life, resolved to do and suffer what- 
ever it should please God to lay upon them. Their theological 
views were not only defective, but erroneous- They understood 
not the true nature of a sinner's justification before God; nor 
the faith by which it is obtained; nor its connection with sancti- 
fication. Holiness of heart and life was the object of their eager 
pursuit; and this they sought not by faith, but by works and 
personal austerity." The Georgia Trustees, inviting the Wesleys, 
told them " plausible and popular doctors of divinity were not 
the men wanted" for the infant colony; but they sought for men 
" inured to contempt of the ornaments and conveniences of life, 
to godly austerities, and to serious thoughts;" and such they 
considered them. They add: " You will find abundant room for 
the exercise of patience and prudence, as well as piety. One 
end for which we were associated was the conversion of negro 
slaves. As yet nothing has been attempted in this way, but a 
door is opened. The Purisburgers f have purchased slaves; 
they act under our influence; and Mr. Oglethorpe will think it 
advisable to begin there." 

The hearty Yorkshire Methodist, James Ingham, who was 
now a curate in the country, wrote "Wesley: " I have had a great 
many turns and changes since I saw you. I believe I must be 
perfected through sufferings. Notwithstanding, by the blessing 
of God, I hope to press on, and persevere in the constant use of 
all the means of grace." He received, in reply: " Fast and pray, 
and then send me word whether you dare go with me to the In- 
dians." He went, as also did Charles Delamotte, son of a Lon- 
don merchant, who had "a mind to leave the world and give 

* Thomas Jackson's Life of C. Wesley. fPurisburg, a settlement twenty miles 
above Savannali, on the Carolina side. 



74 



History of Metliodism. 



himself up entirely to God." This young man was so attached 
to Wesley that he asked leave to accompany him, even as his 
servant rather than miss being with him. 

Before John AYesley consented to go as a missionary to the 
Indians, his mother was consulted. He dreaded the grief it 
would give her. "I am," said he, "the staff of her age, her 
chief support and comfort." On the proposal being x^ut to Mrs. 
Wesley, she said: "If I had twenty sons, I should rejoice that 
they were all so emj^loyed, though I should never see them 
more." It was finally arranged that Charles should accompany 
him as secretary to the governor; and Charles was now ordained, 
that he might be able to officiate as a clergyman in the colony. 

On October 14, 1735, Wesley embarked with his companions, 
taking with him five hundred and fifty coj^ies of a treatise on the 
Lord's Sup|)er, besides other books — " the gift of several Chris- 
tian friends for the use of the settlers in Georgia." The head is 
taken away from them, and soon the Oxford family, like that at 
Epworth, will be scattered. Let us glance at them. 

"Bob Kirkham" was of Merton College — son of a Glouces- 
tershire clergyman. A rollicking felloAv, wasting money and 
time, he seems to have been gained over to temperance and stead- 
iness by our Fellow of Lincoln. In a letter to John Wesley, as 
early as 1726, he si)eaks of "your most deserving, queer char- 
acter, your personal accomplishments, your noble endowments of 
mind, your little and handsome person, and your most obliging 
and desirable conversation." Three months after the first Meth- 
odist meeting in Oxford (1730), Wesley writes to his mother, de- 
scribing the "strange" reformation: "Why, he has left off tea, 
struck off his drinking acquaintances to a man, given the hours 
above specified to the Greek Testament and Hugo Grotius, and 
spent the evenings either by himself or with my brother and 
me." Next year Kirkham left, and became his father's curate."^-" 

The Wesleys and Kirkham were the sons of English clergymen. 
Morgan was the son of an Irish gentleman, resident in Dublin. 
A. young layman with a liberal allowance from his father, he 
moved the Methodists to add to Greek Testament readings 
and prayers and weekly communions the visiting of prisons and 

^Tyerman, from Avhose interesting volume — "The Oxford Methodists" — our 
information is derived, concludes: "We have tried to obtain information concern- 
ing his subsequent career, but have failed." 



Tlie Oxford Familij Scattered. 



75 



tlie care of the poor. He was the precursor of Howard, by a 
generation. Wesley writes : 

In tlie summer of 1730, Mr. Morgan told me he had called at the gaol, to see 
a man who was condemned for killing his wife; and that from the talk he had 
witli one of the debtors, he verily believed it would do much good, if any one 
would be at the pains of now and then speaking with them. This he so frequently 
repeated that, on the 24th of August, 1730, my brother and I walked with him to 
the Castle. We were so well satisfied with our conversation there that we agreed 
to go thither once or twice a week ; which we had not done long, before he desired 
me to go with him to see a poor woman in the town, who was sick. In this em- 
ployment, too, when we came to reflect upon it, w^e believed it would be worth 
while to spend an hour or two in a week. 

Such "peculiar" conduct gave rise to criticism and opposition, 
and they consulted the old Epwortli rector. Wesley's father 
wrote: "You have reason to bless God, as I do, that you have so 
fast a friend as Mr. Morgan, who, I see, in the most difficult serv- 
ice, is ready to break the ice for you. You do not know of how 
much good that poor wretch, who killed his wife, has been the 
providential occasion. I think I must adopt Mr. Morgan to be 
my son, together with you and your brother Charles; and, when 
I have such a ternion to prosecute that war, wherein I am now 
miles emeritus, T shall not be ashamed when they speak with their 
enemies in the gate." 

Morgan's father wrote him very differently: 

You cannot conceive what a noise that ridiculous society in which you are en- 
gaged has made liere. Besides the particulars of the great follies of it at Oxford 
(which to my great concern I have often heard repeated), it gave me sensible 
trouble to hear that you were noted for going into the villages about Holt, calling 
their children together, and teaching them their prayers and catechism, and giv- 
ing them a shilling at your departure, I could not but advise with a wise, pious, 
and learned clergyman. He told me that lie has known the worst of consequences 
follow from such blind zeal ; and plainly satisfied me that it was a thorough mis- 
take of true piety and religion. I proposed writing to some i3rudent and good 
man at Oxford to reason with you on these points, and to convince you that you 
were in a wrong way. He said, in a generous mind, as he took yours to be, the 
admonition and advice of a father would make a deeper impression than all the 
exhortations of others. He concluded that you were young as yet, and that your 
judgment was not come to its maturity; but as soon as your juds:ment improved, 
and on the advice of a true friend, you would see the error of your way, and think, 
as he does, that you may walk uprightly and safely, without endeavoring to outdo 
all the good bishops, clergy, and other pious and good men of the present and past 
ages ; which God Almighty give you grace and sense to understand aright ! 

Morgan's decease occurred in Dublin, August, 1732; and no 
sooner was the event known than it was wickedly and cruelly 



76 



History of Methodism. 



alleged that his Methodist associates had killed liim by fastings 
and overrigliteousness.''^' 

The first of the many published defenses made by Methodists 
against public clamor was made on this occasion; and so thor- 
oaghly was the father of Morgan satisfied, instead of blaming theni 
he became their faithful friend and defender. This was shown 
not in words only, but in deeds; for, during the next year, lie sent 
his surviving son to Oxford, and placed him under the tuition of 
Wesley. This fashionable young man entered Lincoln College, 
bringing a favorite greyhound with him, and choosing men " more 
pernicious than open libertines" for his companions. Wesley 
did his best on the airy and thoughtless youth, but failed; at 
length be desired Hervey to undertake the task, and he succeed- 
ed. Gambolcl writes: "Mr. Hervey, by bis easy and engaging 
conversation, by letting him see a mind thoroughly serious and 
happy, where so many of the fine qualities he most esteemed were 
all gone over into the service of religion, gained Mr. Morgan's 
heart to the best purposes." 

The friendship between Clayton and the Wesley brothers was 
close and unbroken until the latter departed from Church usages, 
and became out-door evangelists. He was introduced to the Ox- 
ford Methodists in 1732, and at his recommendation they took 
to fasting twice a week. A model of diligence and self-denial, 
he never quailed before ridicule or even sterner measures of per- 
secution. He continued and ended as he began — a ritualist, 
plunging into the Christian fathers, listening to apostolical and 
other canons as to the Bible, and displaying anxiety about sacra- 
mental wine being mixed with water. 

John Wesley, between the years 1738 and 1773, visited Man- 
chester (Clayton's parish) more than twenty times; and yet 
there is no evidence of any renewal of that fraternal intercourse 
which was interrupted when Wesley began to preach salvation 
by faith only, and, in consequence, v>'as excluded from the pulpits 
of the Established Church. This was heresy too great. To be 
saved by faith in Christ, instead of by sacraments, fasts, pen- 

*A short extract from Samuel Wesley's poem on Morgan's death: 
Wise in his prime, he waited not till noon, 
Convinced that mortals " never lived too soon." 
As if foreboding then his little stay. 
He made his morning bear the heat of day. 
Kor yet the priestly function he invades : 
'Tis not his sermon, but his life, persuades. 



Wesley and His Oxford Friends. 



77 



ances, ritualism, and good works, was deserving of Clayton's life- 
long censure; and lience, after 1738, the two old Oxford friends 
seem to have been separated till they met in heaven.* 

Gambold's account of Wesley and his Oxford company has 
already been referred to. From another letter written to him be- 
fore he returned from Georgia, we see the burden of Gambold's 
thoughts: "O what is regeneration? And what doth baptism? 
How shall we reconcile faith and fact? Is Christianity become 
effete, and sunk again into the bosom of nature? But to come to 
the point. That regeneration is the beginning of a life which is 
not fully enjoyed but in another world, we all know. But how 
much of it may be enjoyed at present? What degree of it does 
the experience of mankind encourage us to expect ? And by what 
symptoms shall we know it? " 

Similar thoughts were deeply engaging Wesley's mind at that 
very time. Two or three years afterward, the Ilev. John Gam- 
bold, the learned, moping, gloomy, philosophic, poetic Mystic, 
became a humble, happy, trustful believer in Christ Jesus. He 
gave up his living, severed his connection with the Established 
Church and joined the Moravians. In 1754, as the chief En- 
glish m^ember of their community, he was ordained a "Chor- 
Episcopus,'' or Assistant Bishop. With some faults, at the be- 
ginning of its history in England, the Unitas Fratrum set a true 
and heroic example to other Churches, in its missions to the 
heathen; and the man who helped to purify, improve, and per- 
petuate such a community did no mean service to the Master. 
For seventeen years, he wore the honors of his office "with hu- 
mility and diffidence." 

The last time that he attended the public celebration of the 
Lord's Supper was only five days before his death. At the conclu- 
sion of it, weak and wasted, he commenced singing a verse of praise 
and thanksgiving, and the impression produced was such that the 
whole congregation began to weep.f 

Hervey has been designated the Melanchthon of the Methodist 

* Charles Wesley writes October 30, 1756: "I stood close to Mr. Clayton in 
cliurcli (as all the week past), but not a look would he cast toward me — 
So stiff was his parochial pride." 

fTyerman, whose "Oxford Methodists" furnishes our sketch, thinks it was 
Gambold's yearning for Christian fellowship that united him to the Moravians — the 
fellowship that Methodist love-feasts and class-meetings, of a later day, afford. 



78 



Histonj of MetJwdisDi. 



Eeformation. The flowing harmony and the elaborate polish of 
his works secured the attention of the upper circles of society 
to a far greater extent than the writings of Wesley. Hervey 
avowedly wrote for the elite; Wesley for the masses. His books 
passed through a marvelous number of editions in his day, and 
his " Contemplations " still finds readers. Whitefield wrote to 
him: "Blessed be God for causing you to Avrite so as to suit the 
taste of the polite world! O that they may be won over to ad- 
mire Him, who is indeed altogether lovely ! " The " polite world " 
read his works because they were flower}^; the Methodists, be- 
cause they were savory; " and while, through their medium, the 
former looked at grace with less prejudice, the latter looked at 
nature with more delight." 

Just before his ordination (1736), he wrote to Wesley, now in 
Georgia: "I have read your 'Journal,' and find that the Lord 
hath done great things for you already, whereof Ave rejoice. 
Surely, he will continue his loving-kindness to you, and shoAV 
you greater things than these. Methinks, when you and dear Mr. 
Ingham go forth upon the great and good enterprise of convert- 
ing the Indians, you will, in some respects, resemble Noah and 
his little household going forth of the ark." 

Wesley had been his tutor, and Hervey often thanks him for 
having taught him HebreAv, and speaks of him gratefully as "the 
friend o^ my studies, the friend of my soul, the friend of all my 
valuable and eternal interests; that tender-hearted and generous 
Fellow of Lincoln, who condescended to take such compassionate 
notice of a poor undergraduate, whom almost everybody con- 
demned, and for Avliose soul no man cared." It was said Hervey 's 
mission was to "sanctify the sentimentalism of the day." 

To one of the Oxford Methodists who had taken up residence 
at Bath — the gay Avatering-place — he gives these directions: 

I Avould be earnest with God to make my countenance shine with a smiling seren- 
ity ; that there might sit something on my cheeks which would declare the peace 
and joy of my heart. The world has strange apprehensions of the Methodists. They 

* Devoutly he blesses the providence of God for his well-used microscope, which, 
in the gardens and fields, he almost ahvays took with him. He believed and inti- 
mated that the discovery of so much of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the 
great Creator, even in the minutest parts of vegetable and animalcular creation, 
helped to attune his soul to sing the song of the four-and-twenty elders: "Thou art 
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all 
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." — Tyerman. 



Wesley and His Oxford Friends. 



79 



imagine them to be so many walking mopes, more like the ghost in a play than 
sociable creatures. To obviate this sad prejudice, be always sprightly and agree- 
able. If a pretty turn of wit, or a diverting story offer itself to your mind, do not 
scruple to entertain the company therewith. Every thing that borders upon sour- 
ness, moroseness, or ill-breeding, I would cautiously avoid ; and every thing that 
may give a beautiful or amiable idea of holiness, I wo^^ld study to show forth. I 
do not mean, by what I have said, tJiat you sliould make all sorts of compliances. 
A solicitation to join with your acquaintance in billiards, dice, cards, dancing, etc., 
should be rejected. 

In his old age Wesley, while claiming the ability " to write 
floridly and rhetorically," adds: " I dare no more write in fine 
style than wear a fine coat. I should purposely decline, what 
many admire, a highly ornamental style. I cannot admire French 
oratory; I despise it from my heart." It was otherwise with 
Hervey. Of set purpose he cultivated the '''fine style.'" "My 
writings," said he, " are not fit for ordinary 23eople; I never give 
them to such persons, and dissuade this class of men from pro- 
curing them. O that they may be of some service to the more 
refined part of the world! . I don't pretend, nor do I wish, to 
write one new truth. The utmost of my aim is to represent old 
doctrines in a pleasing light, and dress them in a fashionable or 
genteel manner." 

In 1739, Whitefield, replying to a friend who had read Hervey's 
"Meditations," overflows: "It has gone through six editions. 
The author of it is my old friend, a most heavenly-minded creat- 
ure, one of the first of the Methodists, Avho is contented with a 
small cure, and gives all that he has to the poor. He is very 
weak, and daily waits for his dissolution. We correspond with, 
though we cannot see, one another. We shall, erelong, meet in 
heaven." 

Hervey's charity to the poor was only limited by his means, 
and even such a limit was sometimes overstepped. To prevent 
embarrassment, his friends practiced upon him the innocent de- 
ception of borrowing his money when he received his salary, lest 
he should dispense it all in benefactions; and then repaying it 
as his necessities required. All the profits of his " Meditations," 
amounting to .£700, he distributed in charitable donations; and 
directed that any profit arising from the sale of his books after 
his decease should be used in the same manner. 

Hervey was converted after he had been preaching four years. 
Resting on his own works, and on communicating, and on alms- 



80 



History of Metlioclism. 



giving, lie at length rested on Christ. A sentence or two from a 
long letter to Whitefield will indicate his experience: 

But I trust the divine truth begins to dawn upon my soul. Was I possest of 
all the righteous acts that have made saints and martyrs famous in all genera- 
tions — could tliey all be transferred to me, and might I call them all my own — I 
would renounce them all that I might win Christ. . My schemes are altered. 
I now desire to work in my blessed Master's service, not for, but from, salvation. 
I would now fain serve him who has saved me. I would glorify him before men who 
has justified me before God. I would study to please him in holiness and right- 
eousness all the days of my life. I seek this blessing not as a condition, but as a 
IKirt — a choice and inestimable iKirt — of that complete salvation which Jesus has 
purchased for me. 

Hervey's published sermons are few in number. "I have 
never," said he, "since I was minister at Weston, used written 
notes; so that all my public discourses are vanished into air; un- 
less the blessed Spirit has left any traces of them on the hearts 
of the hearers." One who heard him describes his later pulpit 
efforts: "His subjects were always serious and sublime; they 
might well be ranged under three heads — Euin, Righteousness, 
and Regeneration. He always steered a middle course, between 
a haughty positivity and a skeptical hesitation." 

The friendship of these Oxford Methodists was most sincere 
and cordial, but was not unruffled. The "moderate Calvinism " 
of Theron and Aspasio brought forth criticism from Wesley. 
He begs that Hervey will lay aside the phrase "the imputed 
righteousness of Christ," adding: "It is not scriptural, it is not 
necessary, it has done immense hurt." Their friendship was 
beclouded; and it is a mournful fact that the last few months 
of Hervey's lovely life (he died in 1768) were spent in fighting 
one who, a quarter of a century before, had been the greatest of 
his human oracles. 

Broughton became curate of the Tower of London, where he 
had much to do with prisoners. He seems to have continued a 
sturdy Churchman, and opposed to the later development of 
Methodism. Charles Wesley, on visiting Newgate prison, in 
1743, observes: "I found the poor souls turned out of the way 
by Mr. Broughton. He told them: * There is no knowing our 
sins forgiven ; and, if any could expect it, not such wretches as 
they, but the good people, Avho had done so and so. As for his 
part, he had it not himself; therefore it was plain they could not 
receive it.' " The same year Broughton was appointed the Secre- 



Wesley and His Oxford Friends, 



81 



tary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, an office 
which he held until his death in 1777. For thirty-four years the 
secretarial duties of this society were his principal employment. 
In the society's house he spent five hours every day in the week, 
except on Saturdays and Sundays. It was a Bible, Prayer-book, 
Keligious Tract, Home and Foreign Mission, and Industrial So- 
ciety, all in one, of which Broughton was the chief manager. It 
had the honor of being the pioneer of some of the greatest move- 
ments of the present day. It distributed Bibles long before the 
British and Foreign Bible Society existed. The great Eeligious 
Tract Society was not formed until twenty-two years after 
Broughton's death. Its foreign missions were few in number, 
but were important and successful — one of its missionaries being 
the celebrated Schwartz. One Sunday morning Broughton put 
on his ministerial robes and, according to his wont, retired into 
his room till church-time. The bells were ringing, and he con- 
tinued in his closet. They ceased, but he made no appearance. 
His friends entered, and found him on his knees — dead. An 
original portrait of him hangs in the Koom of the Society for 
Promoting Christian Knowledge. 

Kinchin, a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, left Oxford about 
the same time the Wesleys did, and became rector of a small vil- 
lage church. Like a good primitive Methodist, he visited from 
house to house, catechised the children, and had public prayers 
twice every day — in the morning before the people went to work, 
and in the evening, after their return. He was elected Dean of 
Corpus Christi, but he continued faithful to the principles of 
the Methodists, and, on the removal of Hervey, Whitefield, and 
others from the University, took upon himself the spiritual 
charge of the prisoners. Charles Wesley, on his return from 
Georgia, hastened to Oxford, where, in February, 1737, he 
met with "good Mr. Gambold," "poor, languid Smith," and 
"Mr. Kinchin, whom," says he, "I found changed into a cour- 
ageous soldier of Christ." He died in 1742. 

Hall was, as has been seen, the Judas of the company — "a 
hawk among the doves of the Wesley family." It is on record 
by those who were with Hall during his dying-hours, that his 
last testimony concerning his deserted wife was: " I have injured 
an angel! an angel that never reproached me." John Wesley 
notes in his journal (January 2, 1776): "I came [to Bristol] just 
6 



82 



Hisfori/ of Metl(0(//sin. 



time enough not to see but to bury poor Mr. Hall, my brother- 
in-law, who died on Wednesday morning, I trust in peace, for 
God had given him deep repentance. Such another monument 
of Divine mercy, considering how low he had fallen, and from 
wdiat heights of holiness, I have not seen — no, not in seventy 
years." The other Oxford Methodists — Boyce, Chapman, and 
Atkinson, and the rest — made small record. Glimpses of them 
show the parish priest, in humble places, doing his work — 
some in the later, and others in the earlier, Methodist spirit; 
but all earnest. The best we can say Avitli certainty of each 
is: AYlien last seen he w^as in good company. Of John White- 
lamb — connected w^ith both the Epworth and the Oxford fam- 
ilies — there are a feAv memorials. He was the son of one of 
Samuel Wesley's peasant parishioners at Wroot, and as an 
amanuensis, had rendered the rector important service for four 
years. While resident beneath his roof, Whitelamb acquired 
a sufficient knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages to 
enter Lincoln College, where he was principally maintained 
by the EjDworth rector, and had John Wesley for his tutor. 

Wesley wTote of him in 1731: "He reads oiie English, one 
Latin, and one Greek book alternately; and never meddles wdth 
a new one, in any of the languages, till he has ended the old one. 
If he goes on as he has begun, I dare take upon me to say that 
by the time he has been here four or five years there will not be 
such a one, of his standing, in Lincoln College, perhaps not in 
the University of Oxford." Like his i)atrons, however. White- 
lamb was very poor; and poverty implies trials. Obliged to w^ear 
second-hand gowns and other gear, he was spoken of by one not 
used to employ opprobrious epithets as "poor, starveling J ohnny." 

In 1733 Whitelamb became Samuel Wesley's curate, and soon 
afterward married his daughter Mary. She was eleven years 
older than himself. Her amiable temper made her the delight 
and favorite of the whole family. To provide for the newly- 
married pair, Samuel Wesley resigned to Whitelamb his rectory 
at Wroot. The village — a few miles from Epworth — w^as seques- 
tered, and the salary small; but, despite their thatched residence, 
and the boorishness of the people among whom they lived, they 
we're happy. Their union, how^ever, was of brief duration. 
Within a year of their marriage the wife died.''' 



^Stevenson's Memorials of the "Wesley Family. 



Final Dispersion of the Oxford Famihj: 



83 



At this time Oglethorpe returned from Georgia, whither he 
had gone with his first company of motley emigrants. Samuel 
AV^esley, now within six months of his decease, took an intense 
interest in the Georgian colony, and declared that if he had been 
ten years younger he would gladly have devoted the remainder 
of his life and labors to the emigrants, and in acquiring the lan- 
guage of the Indians among whom they had to live. Among 
others who had gone to Georgia with Oglethorpe, and had re- 
turned with him, was one of Samuel Wesley's parishioners, of 
whom the venerable rector earnestly inquired whether the min- 
isters who had migrated to the infant colony understood the In- 
dian language, and could preach without interpreters. Corre- 
spondence with General Oglethorpe followed, and the rector had 
the pleasure, as he could not go himself into that missionary 
field, of forwarding an application from his son-in-law — incon- 
solable at his late bereavement. His sons John and Charles 
sailed for the colony next year, but for some unknown reason his 
son-in-law did not. Tyerman asks: "Did Wliitelamb miss the 
way of Providence in not becoming a Georgian missionary?" 
Perhaps he did. At all events, the remaining thirty-four years 
of his life seem to have been of comparatively small importance 
to his fellow-men. "A person of retiring habits and fond of sol- 
itude," he lived and died at Wroot; and though he was unable 
to accept the later development of Methodism that was soon 
shaking the land, we mast always think kindly of the man who 
made the gifted and afflicted Mary Wesley happy. 

The Oxford family, like the EpAvorth, is broken up — dispersed 
forever. In a qualified sense, we may apply to Oxford Method- 
ism the words of the sacred text: "A river went out of Eden to 
water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became 
into four heads." 



CHAPTER VII. 



Voyage to Georgia — Tlie Moravians — Lessons in a Storm — Eeaches Suvannali 
— Labors There — The Indians — A Beginning ]Made — The AVesleys Leave 
Georgia. 

JOHN WESLEY is on board the ship Symmonds, bound for 
America, with one hnndred and twenty-four persons — men, 
women, and childi^en. His brother Charles, Benjamin Ingham, 
Charles Delamotte, and David Xitschman, are on board also. Da- 
vid is a Moravian bishop, and, accompanied by twenty-six Mo- 
ravians, is on his vray to visit the Brethren in Georgia, who had 
emigrated during the preceding year nnder the guidance of their 
ministers, Spangenberg, John Toelschig, and Anthony Seyffart. 

Such were the chief of AYesley's fellow -voyagers. As already 
stated, they left London to embark, on October 14, 1735; but it 
was not until December that they fairly started. They encoun- 
tered storms and calms; then had to await the man-of-war that 
was to be their convoy. 
Ingham's journal reads: 

We had two cabins allotted us in the forecastle; I and Mr. Delamotte having 
tlie first, and Messrs. AVesley the other. Theirs was made pretty large, so that vre 
could all meet together to read or pray in it. This part of the ship was assigned 
to us by Mr. Oglethorpe, as being most convenient for privacy. 

October 17, Mr. John Wesley began to learn the German tongue, in order to 
converse with the Moravians, a good, devout, peaceable, and heavenly-minded peo- 
ple, who were persecuted Ijy the papists, and driven from their native country, 
upon the account of their religion. They were graciously received and protected 
by Count Zinzendorf, of Herrnhut, a very holy man, who sent them over into 
Georgia, where lands will be given tliem. There are twenty-six of them in our 
ship; and almost the only time that ycu could know they were in the ship was 
when they were harmoniously singing the pi-aises of the Great Creator, which they 
constantly do in public twice a day, wherever they are. Their example was very 
edifying. They are more like the Primitive Christians than any other Church 
now in the world; for they retain both the faith, practice, and discipline delivered 
by the aj)ostles. 

From the same source we learn that^ on October 18, W.esley and 
Ingham began to read the Old Testament together, and, at the 
rate of between nine and ten chapters daily, finished it before 
they arrived at Georgia. On the day following, Wesley com- 
menced preaching without notes; and during the passage, in a 
(Si) 



The Voyage to America. 



85 



series of sermons, lie went tlirougli the Avliole o£ our Saviour's 
Sermon on the Mount, and, every Sunday, had the sacrament. 

General Oglethorpe was in command, but John Wesley was the 
religious head of the floating (immunity, and his habits pre- 
vailed over all around him. The daily course of life among the 
Methodist party was directed by him. From four till five o'clock 
in the morning each of them used private prayer; from five till 
seven they read the Bible together, carefully comparing it with 
the Avritings of the earliest Christian ages; at seven they break- 
fasted; at eight v/ere the public prayers. From nine to twelve 
Wesley usually studied German, and Delamotte Greek or Navi- 
gation, while Charles Wesley, lately ordained, wrote sermons, and 
Ingham instructed the children. At twelve they met to give an 
account of what they had done since their last meeting, and of 
v/liat they designed to do before the next. About one they dined; 
the time from dinner to four was spent in reading to persons on 
board, a number of whom each of them had taken in charge. 
At four were the evening prayers, when either the second lesson 
was explained (as the first was in the morning) or the children 
were catechised and instructed before the congregation. From 
five to six they again used private prayer. From six to seven 
they read in their cabins to the passengers (of whom about 
eighty were English). At seven Wesley joined with the Ger- 
mans in their public service, while Mr. Ingham was reading be- 
tween the decks to as many as desired to hear. At eight they 
all met together again, to give an account of what they had done, 
vvhom they had conversed with, and to deliberate on the best 
method of proceeding with such and such persons: what advice, 
direction, exhortation, or reproof, was necessary for them. Some- 
times they read a little, concluding with prayer; and so they 
vfent to bed about nine, sleeping soundly upon mats and blankets, 
regarding neither the noise of the sea nor of the sailors. 

It has been well remarked that the ship became at once a 
Bethel and a seminary. "It was Epworth rectory and Su- 
sanna Wesley's discipline afloat on the Atlantic." The meeting 
of the Wesleys with the pious refugees appeared to be casual, 
but it was, in fact, one of those providential arrangements out of 
which the most momentous consequences arise. The great event 
of the voyage, as affecting Methodism, was the illustration of 
genuine religion which the little band of Moravian passengers 



80 



History of Methodism. 



afforded. It made a deep impression upon tlie susceptible and 
observant minds of the t^vo ^Tesleys, especially upon that of 
John. 

A storm came upon them wften Trithin ten days' sail of the 
American continent. The waves of the sea were mighty, and 
raged horribly; the winds roared, and the ship not only rocked 
to and fi'o vdth the utmost violence, but shook and jarred with 
so unequal and grating a motion that the passengers could with 
difficulty keep their hold of any thing. Every ten minutes came 
a shock against the stern or side of the shixD, which seemed as if 
it would dash the jjlanks in pieces. In this state of things, John 
"Wesley ^viites: 

I Avent TO tlie Germans. I had long before observed the great seriousness of 
their behavior. Of their humility they had given a continual proof, by perform- 
ing those servile offices for the other passengers which none of the English would 
undertake, for which they desired and would receive no pay, saying it was good 
for their proud hearts and their loving Saviour had done more for them. And 
everv dav had given them occasion of showing a meekness which no injury could 
move. If they were pushed, struck, or thrown down, they rose again and Avent 
away; but no complaint was found in their mouth. There was now an opportu- 
nity of trying Avhether they were delivered from the spirit of fear, as well as from 
that of pride, anger, and revenge. In the midst of the psalm wherewith their serv- 
ice began, the sea broke over, split the main-sail in pieces, covered the ship, and 
l>oured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. 
A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. 
I asked one of them afterward, ''Was you not afraid?" He answered, "I thank 
God, no." I asked, "But were not your women and .children afraid?" He re- 
plied mildly, "No; our women and children are not afraid to die." 

From them Wesley returned to the affrighted English, and 
pointed out the difference between liim that f eareth God and him 
that f eareth him not; and then concludes his account of the storm 
bv saving, "This was the most glorious day which I have hitherto 
seen." Thus he had a glimpse of a religious experience, which 
keeps the mind at peace under all circumstances, " and vanquishes 
that feeling which a formal and defective religion may lull to 
temporaiy sleep, but caimot eradicate— the fear of death." 

The voyage was made in fifty-seven days. Oglethorpe seems to 
have acted with generosity and propriety toward his company in 
the cabin. He was iiTitable and impulsive, but magnanimous. 
TTesley, hearing an unusual noise in the General's cabin, entered 
to inqiibe the cause; on which the angry soldier cried: "Excuse 
me, Mr. Weslej^, I have met with a provocation too great to bear. 



Landing at Savannah. 



87 



This villain, Grimaldi (an Italian servant), has drunk nearly the 
whole of my Cyprns wine, the only wine that agrees with me, and 
several dozens of which I had provided for myself. But I am 
determined to be revenged. The rascal shall be tied hand and 
foot, and be carried to the man-of-war; for I never forgive." 
"Then," said AVesley with great calmness, "I hope, sir, you never 
sin." Oglethorpe was confounded, his vengeance was gone; he 
put his hand into his pocket, pulled out a bunch of keys, and 
threw them at Grimaldi, saying: "There, villain! take my keys, 
and behave better for the future." 

February 5, 1736, the Symmonds cast anchor in Savannah 
Eiver; and on the following day the passengers landed upon a 
small island. Oglethorpe led the first company that left the ship, 
including the Wesleys, to a rising ground, where they all kneeled 
down to give thanks to God for their preservation. He now took 
boat for the settlement of Savannah, then a tow^n of about forty 
houses. Oglethorpe's first act was to give orders to provide ma- 
terials to build a church. Wesley met on his arrival in Georgia 
the well-known Moravian elder, August Gottlieb Spangenberg, 
and asked his advice how to act in his new sphere of labor. 
Spangenberg replied: "My brother, I must first ask you one or 
two questions. Have you the witness within yourself?- Does 
the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a 
child of God? " Wesley was surprised at such questions. They 
were new to him. He was at a loss to answer. Spangenberg 
continued, "Do you know Jesus Christ?" This was easier, and 
Wesley answered, "I know he is the Saviour of the world." 
"True," said Spangenberg; "but do you know he has saved 
you?'' Wesley was again perplexed, but answered, "I hope he 
has died to save me;" Spangenberg only added, "Do you know 
yourself? " " I do," responded Wesley; " ])ut," he writes, " I fear 
they were vain words." An enigmatical conversation, leading the 
Oxford priest to think on doctrines which it took him the next two 
years to understand. 

Ingham and Charles Wesley went off w^ith Oglethorpe to lay 
out the town of Frederica; and Wesley and Delamotte, having 
no house of their own to live in, lodged, during the first month, 
with Spangenberg, Nitschman, and other Moravians. Wesley 
writes: " They were always employed, always cheerful themselves, 
and in good humor with one another; they had put away all an- 



88 



History of Methodism. 



ger, and strife, and wratli, and bitterness, and clamor, and evil- 
speaking; they walked worthy of the vocation v herewith they 
were called." His Churchly prejudices were rebuked by the 
apostolic purity of their ecclesiastical forms. They met, he says, 
to consult concerning the affairs of their Church — Spangenberg 
being about to go to Pennsylvania, and Bishop Nitschman to 
return to Germany. After several hours spent in conference and 
prayer, they proceeded to the election and ordination of a bishop. 
The great simplicity, as well as solemnity, of the proceeding al- 
most made him forget the seventeen hundred years between him 
and the apostles, and imiagine himself in one of those assemblies 
where form and state were unknown, but Paul the tent-maker 
or Peter the fisherman presided, yet with the demonstration of 
the Spirit and of power. 

March 7 he commenced his ministry at Savannah, preaching 
on 1 Corinthians xiii. 3. He officiated at nine in the morning, at 
twelve, and again in the afternoon; and announced his design to 
administer the sacrament on every Sunday and on every holiday. 
A few days subsequent to this, writing to his mother, he re- 
marked: "We are likely to stay here some months. The place 
is pleasant beyond imagination, and exceeding healthful. I have 
not had a moment's illness of any kind since I set my foot upon 
the continent; nor do I know any more than one of my seven hun- 
dred parishioners who is sick at this time."'-^' 

In a few weeks after Wesley had commenced his ministry, he 
had established daily morning and evening public prayers. It 
was also agreed: "1. To advise the more serious to form them- 
selves into a sort of little society, and to meet once or twice a 
week, in order to reprove, instruct, and exhort one another. 2. 
To select out of these a smaller number for a more intimate un- 
ion with each other, which might be forwarded partly by con- 
versing singly with each and partly by inviting all together to 
the pastor's house every Sunday in the afternoon." This he 

*To make up that number of parishioners he counted the whole of Georgia as ]iis 
parish. The Saltzburgers arrived in March, the year before, and chose a settlement 
twenty miles from Savannah, where there were "rivers, little hills, clear brooks, 
cool springs, a fertile soil, and plenty of grass." To the spot which they had chosen 
as their settlement they gave the name of Ebenezer. The French settlers were 
at Highgate, five miles away ; and the Germans at Hampstead ; and the Highlanders 
at Darien — with their kirk minister, Macleod; and threescore souls were dwelling 
in the palmetto huts of Frederica, a liundred miles to the south. 



Wesley's Labors Among the Colonists. 



89 



afterward reckoned as the first Methodist society in America, and 
the second in the world. 

Delamotte's school of between thirty and forty children were 
taught to tead, write, and cast accounts. Wesley catechised them 
every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Every Sunday he had 
three public services — at five in the morning, twelve at midday, 
and three in the afternoon. He visited from house to house, 
taking the midday hours in summer, because the people, on ac- 
count of the heat, were then at home and at leisure. It seems 
that he also taught a school for a time. This legend is preserved: 
A part of the boys in Delamotte's school wore stockings and 
shoes, and the others not. The former ridiculed the latter. De- 
lamotte tried to put a stop to this uncourteous banter, but told 
Wesley he had failed. Wesley replied: "I think I can cure it. 
If you will take charge of my school next week, I will take charge 
of yours, and will try." The exchange was made, and on Mon- 
day morning Wesley went into school barefoot. The children 
seemed surprised, but, without any reference to past jeerings, 
Wesley kept them at their work. Before the week was ended, 
the shoeless ones began to gather courage ; and some of the others, 
seeing their minister and master come without shoes and stock- 
ings, began to copy his example, and thus the evil was effectually 
cured. 

By and by he had enlarged his schedule of labor to this : He 
offered to read prayers and to expound the Scriptures in French, 
every Saturday afternoon, to the French families settled at High- 
gate; which offer was thankfully accepted. The French at Sa- 
vannah heard of this, and requested he would do the same for 
them, with which request he willingly complied. He also began 
to read prayers and expound in German, once a week, to the 
German villagers of Hampstead. His Sunday labor was as fol- 
lows: 1. English prayers from five o'clock to half -past six. 2. 
Italian prayers at nine. 3. A sermon and the holy communion, 
for the English, from half-past ten to about half -past twelve. 4. 
The service for the French at one, including prayers, psalms, and 
Scripture exposition. 5. The catechising of the children at two. 
6. The third English service at three. 7. After this, a meeting 
in his own house for reading, prayer, and praise. 8. At six, the 
Moravian service began, which he was glad to attend, not to 
teach, but learn. 



90 



History of Methodism. 



Following a primitive but obsolete rubric, lie would baptize 
cliildren only by immersion; nor could lie be induced to depart 
from this mode unless the parents would certify that the child 
was weakly. Persons were not allowed to act as sx)Ofisors who 
were not communicants. No baptism was recognized as valid 
unless performed by a minister episcopally ordained; and those 
who had allowed their children to be baptized in any other man- 
ner were earnestly exhorted to have them rebaptized. His rigor 
extended even so far as to refuse the Lord's Supper to one of 
the most devout men of the settlement, who had not been bap- 
tized by an episcopally ordained minister; and the burial-serAice 
itself was denied to such as died with what he deemed unortho- 
dox baptism.^ 

Both the brothers denied themselves not only the luxuries but 
many of the ordinary conveniences of life, living on bread and 
water. They enforced the forms of the Cliurcli with a repetition 
and rigor that tired out the j)eople and provoked resentment. 
One of the colonists said to Wesley: "I like nothing you do; all 
your sermons are satires upon particular persons. Besides, we 
are Protestants; but as for you, we cannot tell what religion you 
are of. We never heard of such a religion before ; we know not 
what to make of it." 

Affairs were even worse in the palmetto-huts of Frederica 
than at Savannah. Charles and Ingham got into trouble 
there very soon. Ingham says (Feb. 29tli): "After morning 
prayers I told the people that it was the Lord's day, and 
therefore ought to be silent in his service; that they ought not to 
go a-sliooting, or walking up and down in the woods; and that I 
would take notice of all those who did. One man answered that 
these were new laws in America." Some of the colonists were 
imprisoned, as they said, because he "made a black list," and in- 
formed on them. As for Charles, he had been baptizing chil- 
dren by trine immersion — plunging them three times into wa- 
ter — and endeavoring to reconcile scolding women. Complaint 
was made that he held so many "services" as to interfere with 

*In liis journal for September 29, 1749, he gives a letter from John Martin 
Bolzius, and adds: "What a truly Christian piety and simplicity breathe in these 
lines! And yet this very man, when I was at Savannah, did I refuse to admit to 
the Lord's table, because he v>'as not baptized; that is, not baptized by a minister 
who had been ej^iscopally ordained. Can any one carry High-cliurch zeal higlier 
than tins? And how well have I been since beaten with mine own staff!" 



Clicu-Jes's ]\[issio)i to Fredo'iccf. 91 

the people's daily labor. Liars and tale-bearers, lax Avoraen and 
unprincipled men, conspired to ruin liim. The governor unwise- 
ly and unjustly listened to their reports, and treated his secre- 
tary and chaplain for awhile with cruel neglect. While all the 
others were provided with boards to sleep upon, he was left to # 
sleep upon the ground. His few well-wishers became afraid to 
speak to him, and even his washer-woman refused in future to 
Avash his linen, xln attempt was even made to assassinate him. On 
one occasion, after dragging himself, fevered and worn-down, to a 
service, he had for his congregation two presbyterians and a papist. 

Charles's mission to Frederica, like that of his brother at Sa- 
vannah, was in the main a failure. As far as regards the great 
end for which .the Christian ministry Avas instituted, they labored 
in vain. Why was this ? The answer given by a well-instructed 
scribe in the kingdom of heaven is worth attention: 

The principal cause of his [Charles Wesley's] "want of success is doubtless to he 
found in the defectiveness of his tlieological views, and consequently of his own 
piety. Several of the sermons wliich he preached at Frederica are still extant in 
his own neat and elegant liandwriting. In these Ave look in vain for correct and 
impressive views of the atonement and intercession of Christ, and of the offices of 
the Holy Spirit. It cannot here be said ''Christ is all, and in all." No satisfac- 
tory answer is given to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" Men are 
required to run tlie race of Christian holiness with a load of uncanceled guilt upon 
their consciences, and while the corrujations of their nature are unsubdued by re- 
newing grace. The preacher has no adequate conception of a sinner's justification 
before God. He sometimes confounds tliis blessing with sanctification, and at other 
times he speaks of it as a something which is to take place in the day of judgment. 
Never does he represent it as consisting in the full and unmerited forgiveness of 
all past sins, obtained not by works of righteousness, but by the simple exercise of 
faith in a penitent state of the heart ; and immediately followed by the gift of the 
Holy Ghost, i^roducing peace of conscience, the filial spirit, power over all sin, 
and the joyous hope of eternal life. On the contrary, he satisfies himself Avith re- 
proving the vices and sins of the people Avith unsparing severity, and with liolding 
up the standard of practical holiness; denouncing the Divine vengeance against all 
A\dio fall short of it; but Avithout directing them to the only means by Avhich tliey 
can obtain forgiveness and a neAV heart. The consequence Avas that the more se- 
rious part of the people Avere discouraged: for they Avere called to the hopeless 
task of presenting to God a spiritual service, AA-hile they Avere themselves the serv- 
ants of sin; and of loving him Avith all their heart, Avliile they Avere strangers to 
his forgiving mercy, and labored under a just appreliension of his Avrath. Charles's 
ministry, like that of his brother, at this time did not embody those great doctrines 
of the evangelical dispensation Avhich constitute "the truth as it is in Jesus," and 
upon Avhicli the Holy Ghost is Avont to set his seal, by making them instrumental 
in the conversion and salvation of men.^ 



-Jackson's Life ofC. Wesley. 



92 



History of Methodism, 



A writer in tlie London Quarto'Jy Bevieic for January, 1868, 
says: "We have before ns a number of iinpnblisliecl sermons 
Yv^ritten by John Wesley, at Oxford, during the ten years which 
followed his ordination. In not one of them is there any view 
whatever, any glimpse, afforded of Christ in any of his offices. 
His name occurs in the benediction — that is about all. Frequent 
communion is insisted on as a source of spiritual quickening; re- 
generation by baptism is assumed as the true doctrine of the 
Church; but Christ is nowhere, either in his life, his death, or 
his intercession." 

After spending a little more than five months in Georgia, some 
duties connected with his secretaryship called Charles to Savan- 
nah; and from thence he was sent with dispatches to England, 
so that he never again visited Frederica, where he had met with 
such unworthy treatment. "I was overjoyed," he says, "at my 
deliverance out of this furnace, and not a little ashamed of my- 
self for being so." 

Leaving Ingham to take care of Savannah, and to keep up the 
school that consisted largely of orphans and the very poor, Wes- 
ley and his faithful layman, Delamotte, went to forsaken Fred- 
erica, and put in a feAv months of hard work there. At this day 
there is shown on the Island (St. Simons) a wide-spreading live- 
oak called " Wesley's Tree." Tradition has it that he preached 
under that tree.* 

But the Indians — what of them ? It was to convert the Indi- 
ans — those unsophisticated " children of nature " — that the Ox- 
ford Methodists came to America. That was their inspiring Ads- 
ion — not to preach to white settlers, influenced by petty jealous- 
ies and rivalries, and consisting, to a considerable extent, of 
reckless and unprincipled persons who had brought Avith them 
an assortment of the very European vices the " missioners " had 
hoped to leave behind. Ingham never lost sight of this object, 
and could hardly be restrained from entering on it at once. 
Wesley protested to the governor; but he urged that the troubles 
recently stirred up by the Spaniards and French made it dan- 
gerous to go among the Indians, and that it Avas inexpedient to 

^ Under this tree, a few years ago, a pliotograiDliic group was taken of Lovick 
Pierce, D.D. (tlie oldest efiective traveling preacher then in the United States, 
if not in the world), with his son, Bishop Pierce — a native Georgian — and Bishop 
Wight man, of South Carolina, and others. 



Among ilie Indians, 



93 



leave Sayannah T\'itliout a minister. Wesley answered that. 
tlioLigli the Trustees of Georgia had appointed him to the office 
of minister of Savannah, this was done without his solicitation, 
desire, or knowledge; and that he shonld not contimie longer 
than his way was opened to go among the Indians. 

On his first voyage, Oglethorpe had carried back to England a 
sample, a rare trophy — Toma-Chache, a Muskogee king, and his 
suite. They were presented to George II., and his court, and 
made a great show of, with due effect on the public mind. It was 
not long after the landing of our '•' missioners " before the royal 
savage called on them. Ingham's journal describes the interview: 

A little after noon some Indians came to make us a visit. "We put on our 
gowns and cassocks, spent some time in prayer, and then went into the great cab- 
in to receive them. At our entrance they all rose up, and both men and women 
shook hands with us. When we were all seated, Toma-Chache, their king, spoke 
to us to this effect — through his interpreter, Mrs. Musgrove, a half-breed: "You 
are welcome. I am glad to see you here. I have a desire to hear the Great 
Word, for I am ignorant. AVhen I was in England, I desired that some might 
speak the Great AVord to us. Our nation was then willing to hear. Since that 
time we have been in trouble. The French on one hand, the Spaniards on the 
other, and the traders that are amongst us, have caused great confusion, and have 
set our people against hearing the Great AVord. Their tongues are useless ; some 
say one thing, and some another. But I am glad you are come." All this he 
spoke with much earnestness and much action, both of his head and hands. Mr. 
John AVesley made him a short answer: "God only can teach you wisdom, and if 
you be sincere, perhaps he will do it by us." AVe then shook hands with them 
again, and withdrew. 

The queen made them a present of a jar of milk. <"ind another 
of honey; that the missionaries might feed them, she said, with 
milk — for they were but children — and might be sweet to them. 

Glad to get away from Frederica, Ingham is found among the 
Indians three months after reaching Georgia: 

April 25. — "We were iliirty-four eommunicanis. Our constant number i< al^out 
a dozen. ]S"ext day Mr. Wesley and I went up to Cowpen in a boat bougl:! for 
our use, to converse with Mrs. Musgrove about learning the Indian langu;'.uo. I 
agreed to teacli her cliildren to read, and to make her whatever reooiii] .ri-c -];e 
would require more for lier trouble. I am to spend three or four c:,v-. :i v.\ ^'^ - , idi 
her, and the rest at Savannah, in communicating what I haveleariit 1 i : AI.', AVes- 
ley; because he intends, as yet, wholly to reside there. The Moravi;ri-i? I eiiu in- 
formed of our design, desired me to teach one of tlie brethren along wirli AIv, AA'es- 
ley. To this I consented at once with my whole heart. And wlio. Think y^. is 
the person intended to learn? Their lawful bishop [David Xir-chinan.] 

April 30. — Mr. Wesley and I went up again to Cowpen. taking along wirh as 
Toma-Cache and liis queen. Their town is about four miles above Savannah, in 



94 



Hisfori/ r,f Methodism. 



the way to ^Irs. Miisgrove's. AVe told them ^\e were about to learn their language, 
I asked them if they were willing I should teach the young prince. They con- 
sented, desiring me to clieck and keep him in; but not to strike him. The youth 
is sadly corrupted, and addicted to drunkenness. 

The Indians gave to Ingliam a plot of ground, in the midst o£ 
^vhich was a small, ronnd hill; and on the top of this hill a 
house was built for an Indian school. The house was named 
Irene. He soon formed a Tocabulary of many words in the In- 
dian language, and began an Indian grammar. An open door 
was set before them; more laborers were wanted, and AYesley 
wrote to a friend in Lincoln College (Feb. 16, 1737): "Mr. Ing- 
ham has left Savannah for some months, and lives at a house 
built for him a few miles off, near the Indian town. So that I 
have now no fellow-laborer but Mr. Delamotte, who has taken 
charge of between thirty and forty children. There is therefore 
great need that God should put it into the hearts of some to come 
over to us and labor with us in his harvest. But I should not 
desire any to come unless on the same views and conditions with 
us — without any temi3oral wages other than food and raiment, 
the plain conveniences of life. And for one or more, in whom 
was this mind, there would l}e full employment in the province. 
The difficulties he must then encounter God only knovrs; proba- 
bl}^ martyrdom would conclude them. But those we have hith- 
erto met with have been small, and only terrilile at a distance. 
Persecution, you know, is the x^ortion of every follower of Christ, 
wherever his lot is cast." 

Soon afterward, he writes: "It was agreed Mr. Ingham should 
go for England, and endeavor to bring over, if it please God, 
some of our friends to strengthen our hands in this work." Ing- 
ham left Savannah February 26. This is the last of him in Georgia. 
Arrived in England, he sought spiritual fellowship among his 
Christian friends in Yorkshire and Oxford, and. as opportunity 
offered, occupied the pulpit of the Established Church. His 
Methodist preaching created a sensation. A man with a soul like 
his — burning with zeal — could scarcely fail to be a successful 
evangelist. In a letter to Charles Wesley, October 22, 1737, he 
writes : 

I have no other thoughts but of returning to America. When the time comes^ 
I trust the Lord will show me. My heart's desire is that tlie Indians may liear 
the f,ospel. For this I pray both night and day. I will transcribe the Indian 
words as fa.-t a? I can. 



Among the Indians. 



95 



Last Sunday, I preached such a sermon at Wakefield cliurch as has set almost 
all ahout us in an uproar. Some say tlie devil is in me; others, that I am mad. 
Otliers say no man can live up to such doctrine, and they never heard such be- 
fore; others, again, extol me to the sky. I believe, indeed, it Avent to the liearts 
of several persons ; for I was enabled to speak witli great authority and power ; and 
I preached almost the Avhole sermon without book. There was a vast congrega- 
tion, and tears fell from many eyes. 

Ingham is evidently studying, and mindful of the people about 
Irene and Cowpens. Oglethorpe tried to get Charles to return. 
John meant to stay, and was arranging for his sister Kezzy to 
come out and keep house for him. Whitefield was preparing to 
come to his help. "A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord 
directeth his steps." As Wesley came to America so he left it, 
" contrary to all preceding resolutions." In four Aveeks from the 
date of the above letter, he had left Georgia forever."^ The Creeks 
or Muskogees, the Choctaws and Chickasaws, the Uchees and 
Cherokecs, dwelt in the country lying between the thin strip of 
white settlements on the Atlantic and Gulf coast, and the Mis- 
sissippi Eiver. They Avere shy of the Avhite man; but Wesley lost 
no opportunity of seeing and interviewing them and their occa- 
sional representatives — of hearing, through traders, of their num- 
bers, customs, and worship: Avhat he saAv and heard doubtless 
modified his vieAvs, but did not abate his desire for the conver- 
sion of the Indians. He died without the sight. Methodism 
AA^as to be honored of God in giving the gospel and a Christian 

* Wesley's excessive pastoral fidelity and liis ritualistic severity made enemies, 
and they found occasion to avenge themselves in an afiiiir connected with one of 

his parishioners. Miss H . It seems he thought of proposing marriage to 

her; but Delamotte Avarned him, and the Moravians advised him ''to proceed no 
farther in the matter." Wesley answered: "The Avill of the Lord be done." The 
lady's uncle, Caustou, of bad record, and then in brief authority, some time after- 
ward hatched up indictments — ten bills, some civil and some ecclesiastical — against 
him. Wesley Avas prepared to ansAver, and moved for an immediate hearing: but 
the court evaded liis request. Fron\ September 1, Avhen the indictments Avere first 
presented, to the end of November, Avhen AVesley made known his intention to 
return to England, he seems to liaA'e attended not fcAver than seven different sit- 
tings of the court, asking to be tried on the matters over Avhich it had jurisdiction, 
but denying its right to take cognizance of the ecclesiastical offenses alleged. 
Thus harassed and obstructed — poAver being in the hands of his enemies, and he 
unable and they unAvilling to reach an issue — he gave notice of leaving, and left. 
This Avas Avhat they Avanted. Causton, the cliief poAver in Oglethorpe's absence, 
came to disgrace and grief in a tAvelve-month, being turned out of all his offices. 
The enemies of Wesley and of Methodism have sedulously endeavored, but in vain, 
to fix a blot upon him in this matter. 



96 



History of Methodism. 



civilization to the Indians, but not then. Its instruments were 
not ready. Its Pentecost had not come. By a way that Wesley 
knew not God would bring it about; and in less than a century, 
Methodist preachers would have schools among those very tribes 
in which Indian children would be learning the Wesleyan Cate- 
chism, and thousands of Indian members under their pastoral 
care would make the Western wilds rejoice as, in their own lan- 
guage, they sang Wesleyan hymns. 

This vision was not granted the misssionary, and he left with 
his enemies exulting and his friends sad. He himself was sad- 
dest of all, for his mission seemed a failure. These are his re- 
flections on the way back to England: 

Many reasons I have to bless God for my having Ibeen carried to America, con- 
trary to all my preceding resolutions. Hereby, I trust, he hath in some measure 
" humbled me and ijroved me, and shoivn me tvhat luas in my heart.'' Hereby, I have 
been taught to " beware of men'' Hereby, God has given me to know many of his 
servants, particularly tliose of the Church of Herrnhut. Hereby, my passage is 
open to the writings of holy men, in the German, Spanish, and Italian tongues. 
All in Georgia have heard the word of God, and some have believed and begun 
to run well. A few steps have been taken toward publishing the glad tidings 
both to the African and American heathens. Many children have learned how 
they ought to serve God, and to be useful to their neighbor. And those whom it 
most concerns have an opportunity of knowing the state of their infant colony, 
and laying a firmer foundation of peace and happiness to many generations. 

When Whitefield arrived in Georgia, a reaction had taken 
place, and he wrote: "The good Mr. John Wesley has done in 
America is inexpressible. His name is very precious among the 
people; and he has laid a foundation that I hope neither men 
nor devils will ever be able to shake. O that I may follow him 
as he followed Christ! " John Wesley's latest and best historian 
thus concludes the account: "Who could have imagined that, 
in one hundred and thirty years, this huge wilderness would 
be transformed into one of the greatest nations upon earth? 
and that the Methodism, begun at Savannah, would pervade the 
continent, and, ecclesiastically considered, become the mightiest 
power existing? " 



CHAPTER VIIL 



Wliitefielcl: Plis Conversion and Preaching; Goes to Savannali — Orphan Asvlurn : 
What was Ac:omplished by this Charity. 

WHITEFIELD had sailed for Georgia a few hours before 
the vessel which brought Wesley back to England cast 
anchor. The ships passed in sight of each other, but neither 
knew that so dear a friend was on the deck at which he was gaz- 
ing. When Wesley landed he learned that his coadjutor was on 
board the vessel in the offing. It v/as still possible to communicate 
with him; and Whitefield was not a little surprised at receiving 
a letter which contained these vvwds: "When I saw God by the 
wind which was carrying you out brought me in, I asked coun- 
sel of God. His answer you have inclosed." The inclosure was 
a slip of paper with this sentence: "Let him return to London." 
He betook himself to prayer. The story of the prophet in the 
book of Kings came forcibly to his recollection — how he turned 
back from his axopointed course because another prophet told him 
it was the vv^ill of the Lord that he should do so, and for that reason 
a lion met him by the way and slew him. So he proceeded on 
his voyage.* 

A new power has been developed in this Oxford Methodist. 
He has undergone a great change. The departure of Wesley 
left Whitefield at the head of the Methodist band or Holy 
Club of the university, and left him also trying to establish his 
own righteousness after the then Methodist style. The last 
glimpse we had of his experience, he was not behind the best of 
them in that way. Beading a treatise lent him by Charles Wes- 
ley, he found it asserted that true religion is a union of the soul 
with God, by the Spirit. A -ray of divine light, he says, in- 
stantaneously darted in upon him, and from that moment he 
knew he must be a new creature. To use his own words : " Up 

* Wesley doubting, from his own experience, whether his friend could be so 
usefully employed in America as in England, had referred the question to lot, and 
this was the lot which he had drawn. Whitefield afterward rebuked him : " It 
is plain you had a wrong lot given you here, and justly, because you tempted God 
in drawing one." He was at that time addicted to the Moravian j)ractice of 
sortilege, in perplexed anxieties for the right way. 

7 (97) 



98 



History of Methodism. 



to that time I knew no more that I must be born again than 
if I had never been born at alh" In seeking, however, to at- 
tain the peace that passeth all understanding, his vehemence and 
ardency of character betrayed him into many ill-judged proceed- 
ings and ascetic follies. 

Whitefield preceded the Wesley s in obtaining the "assurance 
of faith," which they had sought together so arduously before 
they parted. But, like them, he passed through an ordeal of 
agonizing self-conflicts; he followed out many false courses, 
and exhausted many remedies; and thus seems to have been 
prepared to guide and comfort others. Whenever he knelt 
doAvn to pray, he felt great pressure both in soul and body, 
and often prayed under the weight of it till the sweat dripped 
from his face. " God only knows," he writes, " how many nights 
I have lain upon my bed groaning under v/hat I felt." He kept 
Lent so strictly that, except on Saturdays and Sundays, his only 
food was coarse bread and sage-tea without sugar. The end of 
this was that before the termination of forty days he had scarce- 
ly strength enough left to creep up-stairs, and was under a phy- 
sician for many weeks. At the close of the severe illness which 
he had thus brought on himself, a happy change of mind con- 
firmed his returning health. It may best be related in his own 
words : 

Notwitlistanding my fit of sickness continued six or seven Aveeks, I trust I shall 
have reason to bless God for it through the endless ages of eternity; for, about the 
end of the seventh week, after having undergone innumerable bufFetings of Hatan, 
and many months' inexpressible trials, by night and by day, under the spirit of 
bondage, God was pleased at length to remove the heavy load, to enalde me to lay 
hold on liis dear Son by a living fairfi, and by giving me the Spirit of adoption, to 
seal me, as I humbly hope, even to the day of everlasting redem^jtion. But O 
with what joy — -joy unspeakable, even joy that was full of and big with glory — was 
my soul filled wlien the weight of sin went off, and an abiding sense of the par- 
doning love of God, and a full assurance of faith, broke in uj)on my disconsolate 
soul ! Surely it was the day of my espousals — a day to be had in everlasting re- 
membrance. At first my joys were like a spring-tide, and, as it were, overflowed 
the banks. Go where I would I could not avoid singing of psalms almost aloud; 
afterward they became more settled, and, blessed be God, saving a few casual in- 
tervals, have abode and increased in my soul ever since. 

The Wesley s at this time were in Georgia; and some person 
who feared lest the little society which they had formed at Ox- 
ford should be broken up and totally dissolved, for want of a su- 
perintendent, had written to Sir John Philips, of London, who 



WliifefekVs F'^sf SermoL 



99 



was ready to assist in religions works with liis pnrse, and recom- 
mended Whitefield as a proper person to be encouraged and pat- 
ronized, more esx)eciaily for tiiis pnrpose. Sir John immediately 
gave him an annnity of £20, and promised to make it £30 if he 
would continue at Oxford; for if it could be leavened with the 
vital spirit of religion, it would be like medicating the waters at 
their spring. He accepted the situation, and filled it well. His 
illness rendered it expedient for him to change air, and he vrent 
accordingly to his native city where, laying aside all other books, 
he devoted himself to the study of the Holy Scriptures, reading 
them npon his knees, and praying over every line and v\'ord. 
The Bishoi:) of Gloucester perceived his talents and earnest spirit, 
and proffered him ordination, notwithstanding he said that he 
had resolved to ordain no one under three and twenty years, and 
Whitefielcl was only twenty-one. 

He prepared himself for the ceremony by fasting and prayer, 
and spent two hours the previous evening on his knees in the 
neighboring fields, making supplication for himself and those 
who were to be ordained vv'ith him. At the ordination he conse- 
crated himself to an apostolic life. " I trust," he writes, " I an- 
swered to every question from the bottom of my heart, and heartily 
prayed that God might say. Amen. If my vile heart doth not de- 
ceive me, I offered up my whole spirit, soul, and body to the serv- 
ice of God's sanctuary. Let come what will, life or death, dei:)th 
or height, I shall henceforward live like one who this day, in the 
presence of men and angels, took the holy sacrament upon the 
profession of being inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take 
upon me that ministration in the Church." 

The good bishop gave him five guineas — "a great supply," 
wrote Whitefield, "for one who had not a guinea in the world.'" 
His first sermon revealed at once his extraordinary powers. His 
journal gives this account: "Last Sunday, in the afternoon, I 
])reached my first sermon in the church where I was baptized, and 
also first received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Curiosity 
drew a large congregation together. The sight at first a little awed 
me. But I was comforted with a heart-felt sense of the Divine 
presence, and soon found the advantage of having been accus- 
tomed to public speaking when a boy at school, and of exhorting 
and teaching the prisoners and poor x3eople at their private houses^ 
whilst at the university. By these means I was kept from being 



100 



History of Methodism. 



daunted overmuch. As I proceeded, I perceived tlie fire kindled, 
till at last, though so young, and amidst a crowd of those who 
knew me in my childish days, I trust I was enabled to speak with 
some degree of gospel authority." 

Some mocked: many were awakened. It was reported to the 
bishop that fifteen of his hearers had gone mad. He wished that 
the madness might not pass away before another Sunday. That 
same week Whitefield returned to Oxford, took his degree, and 
continued to visit the prisoners, and inspect two or three charity 
schools v/hich were supported by the Methodists. With this 
state of life he was contented, and thought of continuing in the 
university, at least for some years, that he might complete his 
studies, and do good among the gov/nsmen — ^to convert one of 
them being deemed, by some, as much as converting a parish. 
From thence, however, he was invited to officiate at the Tower 
chapel, in London, during the absence of the curate. It was a 
summons which he obeyed with fear and trembling; but he was 
soon made sensible of his power; for though the first time he 
entered a pulpit in the metropolis the congregation seemed dis- 
posed to sneer at his youth, they grew serious during his dis- 
course, showed him great tokens of respect as he came down, and 
blessed him as he passed along, while inquiry v/as made on every 
side, from one to another. Who is he ? 

While he was in London, letters from Ingham and the Weslej^s 
made him long to follow them to Georgia; but when he opened 
these desires to his friends, they persuaded him that laborers 
were v^anted at home. He now learned that Charles Wesley had 
come over to procure assistance; and though Charles did not 
invite him to the undertaking, yet he wrote in terms which 
made it evident that he was in his thoughts, as a proper person. 
Soon afterward came a letter. from John: "Only Mr. Delamotte 
is with me," said he, "till God shall stir up the liearts of some 
of his servants, who, putting their lives in his hands, shall come 
over and help us, where the harvest is so great and the labor- 
ers so few. What if thou art the man, Mr. Whitefield?" In 
another letter it was said: "Do you ask me what you shall have? 
Food to eat, and raiment to put on; a house to lay your head in, 
such as your Lord had not; and a crown of glory that fadeth not 
away." Upon reading this, his heart leaped within him, and 
echoed to the call. The desire thus formed soon ripened into 



Wh iteJielcTs Popularitij. 



101 



a purpose, and fearing tliat it wonlcl never be carried into effect 
if lie "conferred with flesh and blood," he wrote t3 his relations 
at Gloucester, telling them his design, and that if they wonld 
promise not to dissuade him, he would visit them to take his 
leave; othervvdse he would embark without seeing them, for he 
knew his own weakness. But the promise extorted w^as not 
strictly observed; his aged mother v/ept sorely; and others, who 
had no such cause to justify their interference, represented to 
him what "preferment" he might have if he would stay at home.* 
Whitefield's leave-takings proved to be great awakenings, es- 
pecially in Gloucester and Bristol. Crowds attended week-day 
services such as Sundays had not brought together. His piety 
was fed with deep meditations, and his eloquence broke upon 
congregations with wondrous power. "Sometimes, as I have 
been walking," he says, "my soul would make such sallies that 
I thought it Avould go out of the body. At other times I vrould 
be so overpowered with a sense of God's infinite majesty that I 
would be constrained to throw myself prostrate on the ground, 
and offer my soul as a blank in his hands, to write on it what he 
pleased." 

On his last visit to Bristol people came out on foot to meet 
liim, and some in coaches, a mile without the city. He preached 
about five times a week. All classes, and all denominations, from 
Quakers to High-churchmen, flocked to hear him. "The vfhole 
city," he wrote, " seemed to be alarn^d." " The word was sharper 
than a two-edged sword, and the doctrine of the new birth made 
its way like lightning in the hearers' consciences." " Some hung 
upon the rails of the organ-loft, others climbed upon the leads 
of the church, and all together made the church so hot with their 
breath that the steam v>'ould fall from the pillars like drops of 
rain." When he said that perhaps tliey might see his face no 
more, high and low, young and old, burst into tears. After 
the sermon multitudes followed him home weeping. The next 
day he v/as emjjloyed from seven in the morning till midnight 
in talking and giving spiritual advice to awakened hearers; and 
he left Bristol secretly in the middle of the night, to avoid be- 
ing escorted by horsemen and coaches out of the town.f 

■^^The device upon Whitefield's seal Avas a winged lieart soaring above the 
globe, and the motto, Astra petamus. t Memoirs of Eev. Geo. AVhitefield, by J. 
Gillies, D.D. 

-# 



102 



History of Meflwdisni. 



At Oxford, Yriiitefield had an agreeable interview witli the 
other Methodists, and came to London about the end of August 
to prepare for his voyage. The time of his detention was fully 
employed in the pulj^its of the metropolis. When he assisted at 
the eucharist, the consecration of the elements had to be twice 
or thrice repeated. The managers of charitable institutions were 
eager to obtain his services; for that ]3urpose they procured the 
liberty of the churches on week-days, and thousands went aAvay 
from the largest churches, not being able to get in. The con- 
gregations were all attention, and seemed to hear as for eternity. 
He preached generally nine times a week, and often helped to 
administer the sacrament early on the Lord's-day, when the streets 
might be seen filled with people going to church with lanterns 
in their hand^ and conversing about the things of God. 

As his popularity increased, opposition began to arise, but he 
left before it took form. Some of the clergy became angry; two 
of them told him they would not let him preach in their pulpits 
any more, unless he renounced that part of the preface of his 
sermon on " Regeneration " (lately published), wherein he wished 
" that his brethren v>'ould entertain their auditors of tener with dis- 
courses upon the new birth." 

Wesley was approaching the coast of England while "White- 
field was x)reparing for his embarkation; "and now, when White- 
field, having excited this i^owerful sensation in London, had de- 
parted for Georgia, to the joy^of those who dreaded the excesses 
of Lis zeal, no sooner had he left the metropolis than Wesley 
arrived there, to deepen and widen the impression which Yrhite- 
field had made. Had their measures been concerted they could 
not more entirely have accorded." * And Whitefield supplied in 
America the very element that Wesley's ministry lacked. He 
was not an organizer; he was not an ecclesiastical legislator; he 
was preeminently a preacher — a loving, melting, saving preacher. 
In both hemispheres, but especially in America, starting out 
from and returning to Georgia in many successive trips, he was 
to be the evangelist, pre^^aring the way for Methodism. It was 
appointed him to preacli; he did not spend his strength in defend- 
ing the word of God, but in proclaiming it. He drew crowds, 
and before a crowd of drowsy worldlings had no equal. His 
figure Avas tall and his gesture striking. Marvelous things were 

^Wesley and Methodism. 



WliiteJielcV s Departure for Georgia. 



103 



told of the compass and sweetness of his voice."^^ His eyes 
were bkie and himinous, though small, and a slight squint in one 
of them, caused by the measles, is said not to have " lessened the 
uncommon sweetness " of his countenance. His humble origin 
enabled him to understand and address the common people, who, 
while admiring that natural grace which rendered him at home 
in aristocratic circles, felt that he was one from among them- 
selves. More than all, his soul was on fire. The unction of 
the Holy One rested on him. An ignorant man returning 
from hearing him said, "He preached like a lion." In later 
years, Wesley, listening to him, and observing the effect of his 
sermon, wrote: "Even the little improimeties, both of his lan- 
guage and manner, were the means of profiting many, who 
would not have been touched by a more correct discourse, or a 
more calm and regular manner of preaching." 

The ship on Avhich Whitefield sailed was full of soldiers. The 
captain of the ship and the officers of the regiment, and a young 
cadet, gave him to understand that they looked upon him as a hyp- 
ocrite, and for awhile treated him as such. Card-playing and pro- 
fanity were prevalent, and his reproofs were scoffed at. The voy- 
age was long. He tried what he could do between decks, preach- 
ing daily to his red-coat parishioners, as he called them. A 
fever broke out and Avent through the ship. The Methodist 
i^lan was in place — doing good to the bodies and souls of men— 
and he followed it. For many days and nights he visited be- 
tween twenty and thirty sick persons — crawling between decks- 
administering medicines or cordials to them, and such advice as 
seemed suitable to their circumstances. One day he said to the 
military captain that "though he was a volunteer on board, yet, 
as he was on board, he looked upon himself as his chaplain, and 
as such he thought it a little odd to pray and preach to the serv- 
ants and not to the master;" and added that "if he thought 
proper he would make use of a short collect now and then to ' 
him and the other gentlemen in the great cabin." After pausing 
aAvhile and shaking his head, he answered, " I think we may when 
we have nothing else to do." f 

Before the voyage was through, the two captains were quite 

^Garrick, Avith allowable exaggeration, said Whitefield could make Ms liearers 
weep or shout with exultation, merely by his varied prcnuiiciation of tlie word 
Mesopokunia. f Memoirs of Whitefield, by Gillies. 



104 



History of Methodism. 



brought over. Captain Mackay desired that Mr. Whitefield 
would not give himself the trouble of expounding and praying 
in the cabin and between decks, for he would order a drum 
to beat morning and evening, and he himself would attend 
v\dth the soldiers on the deck. This produced a very agreeable 
alternation — they were now as regular as in a church. White- 
field preached with a captain on each side of him, and soldiers 
all around; and the tv\'0 other ships' companies, being now in 
the trade-winds, drew near and joined in the worship of God. 
The great cabin now became a Bethel; both captains were 
daily more and more affected — a crucified Saviour and the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of God were the usual topics 
of their conversation. Once, after sermon. Captain Mackay de- 
sired the soldiers to stop, whilst he informed them that to his 
great shame he had been a notorious swearer, but by the instru- 
mentality of Mr. Whitefield's preaching he had now left it off, 
and exhorted them, for Christ's sake, to go and do likewise. 
The effect may be imagined. 

There was a reformation throughout the whole soldiery. The 
women cried, "What a change in our captain! " The bad books 
and packs of cards which Whitefield exchanged for Bibles and 
other religious books (abundance of which were given him to 
dispense by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) 
were thrown overboard. The cadet, who was a cabin-passenger, 
being " wounded deeply," told Mr. Whitefield the history of his 
life, and informed the captain of his desire to leave the army, 
and return to his original intention of devoting himself to the 
ministry. The soldiers stood forth of evenings and submitted 
like children to being catechised on the exposition of the morning 
lesson. 

They landed the beginning of May, 1738. After preaching a 
farewell sermon to his converts on the sea and his red-coat par- 
ishioners, Whitefield arriveci a t Savannah on the seventh, and 
entered upon his "little foreign cure." 

Whitefield soon found he had no mission to the Indians; the 
romance about these "children of nature " disappeared on sight 
of the situation. Of the unkindness done to Wesley he heard, 
but did not embroil himself in the strife. His manner and spirit 
opened his way to all the colonists. He contracted an intimacy 
with the Saltzburg pastor, Bolzius, whom his predecessor had 



Wh'iteflekVs Befurn to England. 



105 



repelled from tlie sacrament because lie had not been baptized 
by an episcoj^ally ordained minister. He writes: 

Tlirougli Divine mercv, I met with respectful treatment from magistrates, offi- 
cers, and people. The first I visited novv^ and then ; the others, besides preaching 
twice a day and four times on the Lord's-day, I visited from house to house. I 
was in general most cordially received, but from time to time found that coelum 
non animmn mutant, qui trans mare ciirrunt. [People do not cliange their disposition 
by crossing the sea.] Among some of these, tlie event, hoAvever, proved that the 
word took effectual root. I was really happy in my little foreign cure, and could 
have cheerfully remained among them had I not been obliged to return to En- 
gland, to receive priest's orders and make a beginning towf.rd laying a founda- 
tion to the Orphan-house. 

He found many orphan children among the colonists, and pro- 
jected an asylum for them. Their condition Ys^as peculiarly 
helpless and their number likely to increase. The scheme of 
Professor Franke, or Germany, was in his mind* as a model; but 
the differences between old and thickly-settled Halle and Savan- 
nah were not taken into account. A more practical man would 
call the x^lan a bad one, both in location and operation; but if it 
did little good to the orphans, it did a great deal of good to the 
Church and to the world. It helped to secure the perpetual itin- 
erancy of Whitefield. He was kept going the rest of his life, to 
build and then to support the orphanage; and as he went, he 
preached; and the results of his preaching can never die. The 
benevolent but ill-judged scheme was one of those mysterious 
burdens which Providence sometimes allows good men to take 
up, who move steadier and go faster for the load they carry. 
The ideal is noble and elevating, but its benefits are in the con- 
templation rather than in the realization. He ranged from north 
to south along our coast, and thirteen times crossed the Atlantic, 
pleading for his Bethesda. The Savannah orphanage on one 
continent and the London Tabernacle on the other were the fo- 
cal j)oints of a wide movement, and made him the almoner and 
the evangelist of the English-speaking world. 

Parting affectionately with his flock, Whitefield embarked at 
Charleston, September 6th, 1738, and returned in time to render 
important services to Methodism in the mother-country. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Wesley's Experience; His Keflections — Peter Bohler: His Doctrine and Life — 
Conversion of the Two Brothers : Effect Upon Their Ministry. 



N bis arrival in London (Feb. 3, 1738), and without delay, 



V_y John "Wesley visited Oglethorpe, and waited npon the Geor- 
gian trustees ; gave to them a written account why he had left the 
colony, and returned to them the instrument whereby they had 
appointed him minister of Savannah. While on his way to En- 
gland, upon the bosom of the great deep, his "mind was full of 
thought," and in the fullness of his heart he made the following 
entry in his private journal: "I went to America to convert the 
Indians; but O who shall convert me? who, what is he that 
will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief? I have a fair 
summer religion. I can talk well — nay, and believe myself, while 
no danger is near; but let death look me in the face, and my spirit 
is troubled. Nor can I say, ' To die is gain.' 



I think, verily, if the gospel be true, I am safe; for T not only 
have given, and do give, all my goods to feed the poor; I not 
only give my body to be burned, drowned, or whatever God shall 
appoint for me; but I follow after charity (though not as I ought, 
yet as I can), if haply I may attain it. I noiv believe the gospel 
is true. I show my faith by my Avorks, by staking my all upon 
it. I would do so again and again a thousand times, if the choice 
were still to make. Whoever sees me sees I v/culd be a Chris- 
tian." 

By the most infallible of proofs, he tells us — that of his own. 
consciousness — he was convinced of his having "no such faith 
in Christ" as prevented his heart from being troubled; and he 
earnestly prays to be " saved by such a faith as implies peace in 
life and death." He did not apprehend the promise, "A new 
heart also will I give you." To attain to a state of entire sancti- 
fication was with him the great business of life; he aimed at a 
high standard of personal holiness; but in the process of this 
work, his references to the grace of the Holy Spirit were rather 




I liave a sin of fear that, when I've spun 
My hist thread, I sliall perish on the shore. 



(lOG) 



Weslei/s Experience. 



107 



casual and indirect than indicative of an entire dependence upon 
liis presence and agency. A few days afterward, standing again 
on English soil, he makes in his journal this record of his in- 
ward struggles, this estimate of his spiritual condition: 

It is now two years and almost four months since I left my native country, in 
order to teacli tlie Georgia Indians the nature of Christianity; but what have I 
learned niyself in the meantime? AVhy (what I the least of all suspected), that I, 
who went to America to convert others, was never myself converted to God. "I 
am not mad," though I thus speak, but " I speak the words of truth and sober- 
ness;" if haply some of those who still dream may awake and see that as I am 
so are they. Are they read in philosophy? So was I. In ancient or modern 
tongues? So was I also. Are they versed in the science of divinity? I too have 
studied it many years. Can they talk fluently upon spiritual things? The very 
same could I do. Are they plenteous in alms? Behold, I give all my goods to 
feed the poor. Do they give of their labor as well as of their substance? I have 
labored more abundantly than they all. Are they willing to suffer for their breth- 
ren? I have thrown up my friends, reputation, ease, country; I have put my life 
in my hand, wandering into strange lands ; I have given my body to be devoured 
by the deep, parched up with heat, consumed by toil and weariness, or whatsoever 
God should please to bring upon me. But does all this (be it more or less, it mat- 
ters not) make me acceptable to God? Does all I ever did or can know, say, give, 
do, or suffer, justify me in his sight? Yea, or the constant use of all the means 
of grace (which, nevertheless, is meet, right, and our bounden duty) ? Or that I 
know nothing of myself; that I am, as touching outward, moral righteousness, 
blameless? Or (to come closer yet) the having a rational conviction of all the 
truths of Christianity? Does all this give me a claim to the holy, heavenly, di- 
vine character of a Christian? By no means. If the oracles of God are true, if 
we are still to abide by "the law and the testimony," all these things, though 
when ennobled by faith in Christ they are holy, and just, and good, yet without 
it are "dung and dross," meet only to be purged away by "the fire that never 
shall be quenched." This, then, have I learned in the ends of the earth — that I 
"am fallen short of the glory of God;" that my whole heart is "altogether cor- 
ru})t and abominable," and, consequently, my whole life (seeing it cannot be that 
an "evil tree" should "bring forth good fruit"); that "alienated" as I am from 
the life of God, I am "a child of vrrath," an heir of hell; that my own works, my 
own sufferings, my own righteousness, are so far from reconciling me to an offend- 
ed God, so far from making any atonement for tlie least of those sins which "are 
more in numljer than the hairs of my head," that the most specious of them need 
an atonement themselves, or they cannot abide his righteous judgment; that 
"having the sentence of death" in my heart, and having nothing in or of myself 
to plead, I have no hope but that of being justified freely "through the redemp- 
tion that is in Jesus;" I have no hope but that if I seek I shall find Christ, and 
" be found in him, not having my own righteousness, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." 

If it be said that I have faith (for many such things have I heard from many 
miseiable comforters), I ansv/er. So have the devils — a sort of faith — but still they 
are strangers to tlie covenant of promise. So the apostles had even at Cana in 



108 



Hisionj of Method isuh 



Galilee, "when Jesus first "manifested forth his giorv;" even tlien they in a sort 
"believed on him," but they had not then "the faitli that overcometh tlie Avorld." 
The faith I Avant is "a sure trust and confidence in God, that througli the merits 
of Christ my sins are forgiven, and I reconciled to the favor of God." I want that 
faith Avhich St. Paul recommends to all the world, especially in his Epistle to the 
Koraans — that faith which enables every one that hath it to cry out: "I live not, 
but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live, I live by faith in tlie Son 
of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." I Avant that faith Avhich none 
can have Avithout knoAving that he iiath it (though many imagine they have it 
Avho have it not); for Avhosoever hath it is "freed from sin," the Avhole "body of 
sin is destroyed" in him; he is freed from fear, "having peace Avith God through 
Christ, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God." And he is freed from doubt, 
"having the love of God shed abroad in his heart through the Ploly Gliost which 
is given unto him;" Avliich "Spirit itself bearetli Avitness Avith his spirit that he is 
a child of God." 

Wesley had been in tlie Christian ministry for twelve or thir- 
teen years, and having tried legalism and ritnalism to the ut- 
most, he found no health in them. He is now ready to be " taught 
the way of the Lord more |)erfectly;" and the Lord has pre- 
pared a teacher. At the very time when, harassed by persecu- 
tion and perplexed as to the state of his heart, he resolved to 
return to his native land, the heads of the Moravian Church in 
Germany were making arrangements to send a pious and gift- 
ed evangelist to America, directing him to pass through En- 
gland. Little did they imagine what consequences would arise 
out of the fulfillment of their x^lans. The hand of God was in 
it. The man selected for this service was Peter Bohler, v>-ho ar- 
rived in London just in time to impart the evangelical instruc- 
tion which Wesley and his brother so greatly needed. The sons 
of the Anglican Church applied to the son of the Moravian: 
" Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out." 

More than three hundred years had passed since the Council 
of Constance had burned at the stake the two noblest men of Bo- 
hemian history — Jerome and Huss. For a long time the people 
of Moravia and Bohemia had held principles that, in Luther's 
time, became Protestantism. John Huss and Jerome of Prague 
(martyred in 1415) were reformers before the Reformation. The 
latter, after leaving the University of Prague, visited Oxford, and 
imbibed Wycliffe's principles while copying his works. This 
ante-Lutheran reformation, though rej)ressed by vigilant and 
cruel i^ersecutions, was not extinguished. Many families lin- 
gered in Boliemia and Moravia from generation to generation, 



Renewed Church of ihe Brethren. 



109 



retaining, in liiimble obscurity, tlie truth for which the Con- 
stance martyrs had cliecL The papal persecutors deemed that in 
destroying Jerome and Huss they had extinguished the new 
moYement on the continent of Europe; but a spark from the stake 
of Constance lighted up at last the flame of Methodism in En- 
Hand and America. 

o 

The formal organization of TJnitas Frcitrum, or Unity of the 
Brethren (as the Moravian Church calls itself), may be dated in 
1467, when their Society became an independent Church, and 
their ministry was instituted — the Waldensian Bishop, Stephen, 
consecrating to the episcopal office three men who had been sent 
to him for that purpose by the Moravian Conference or Synod. 
Toward the close of the fifteenth century, a Bohemian version of 
the Bible was jDublished. In the sixteenth century, they sent 
several deputations to Luther, but were deterred from joining the 
Lutheran or Calvinistic Churches because of the civil entangle- 
ments and vv^orldly elements connected with them. At their last 
interview the great reformer bid them Godspeed, and took 
leave of them in these words: "Do you be the apostles of the 
Bohemians, as I and my bretliren will be apostles of the Ger- 
mans." In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the pros- 
perity of the Brethren was at its highest. The Unitas F rat rum 
was composed of three provinces — the Moravian, the Bohemian, 
and the Polish — each governed by its own bishops and confer- 
ences, but all confederated as one Church, holding General Con- 
ferences in common. Then began persecutions more vigorous 
than ever before known. The Unitas Fratrum, as a recognized 
organization, disappeared from the eyes of the world, and re- 
mained as a "hidden seed" for nearly a century. In Moravia 
many families secretly maintained the views of their fathers. 
Among these a religious awakening took place in the first quar- 
ter of the eighteenth century under Christian David's preach- 
ing, which was followed by the usual persecutions; and several 
Moravians escaped from their native country with David, and 
found refuge at Berthelsdorf, an estate in Saxony belonging to 
Count Zinzendorf . This pious nobleman kindly received them, 
and other Moravians soon joined them. They built a town, and 
called it Herrnhut; introduced the discipline and perpetuated the 
ministry of Unitas Fratrum, and in this way the ancient Church 

was " RENEWED." 



110 



Historu of Jlethodism. 



Christian Dayid, an earnest-minded, car^^enter, led the little 
company to a piece of land near a mound (the Hutberg or AVatch- 
hill ), where, lifting his ax, he cleaved a tree, exclaiming: "Here 
liath the sparrovr fonnd a house, and the swallow a nest for her- 
self, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts!" In June, 1722, the 
first tree Y\-as cut down; in October, the exiles entered their new 
home. " The renewed Church of the Brethren " dates from the 
foundation of Herrnhut, and in 1732 the infant community, then 
numbering about six hundred members, first essayed to fulfill the 
final charge of our ascending Lord by sending out its messengers 
to the distant nations of the earth.* Most of them poor and des- 
titute exiles, this feeble band of heroic men sent out, during the 
short i^eriod of nine or ten years, missionaries to Greenland, to 
the Vrest Indies, to the Indians of Xortli America, to Lapland, 
to Tartary, to Algiers, to Guinea, to the Cape of Good Hope, and 
to the Island of Ceylon. Having been nearly extinguished in 

"^The '' Brethren," botli in America and in Europe, never increased as did many 
other denominations of Christians. The fundamental principle underlying the 
efforts of Zinzendorf and his coadjutors, on behalf of the Clmrch at home, was 
Spencr^ idea of ecdesiiolae, in ccclesia — little churches within tlie Church — liouse- 
holds of faith whose members should be separated as much as possible fro3u the 
world, and which should constitute retreats where men could hold undisturb^ed 
communion witli God. Tliis idea, begun at Herrnhut, resulted in tlie establish- 
ment of Moravian settlements — that is, towns founded by tlie Church, where no 
one who is not a member was permitted to own real estate, although strangers, 
complying with the rules of the community, were allowed to lease houses. A sys- 
tem so exclusive kept the Cluirch small, althougli it was of great advantage in 
other resj^ects, and served to foster the missionary zeal which has distinguished 
tlie Moravians. The last General Synod, held at Herrnhut in lio7, remodeled 
the ccnstitutiiai. and cpened the way fjr a more general development of the re- 
sources of tlie L'hureh in the home ticM. The Unitas Fratrum now consists of 
three provinces — the American; Coniinental, and Briti>li — which govern them- 
selves in all provincial matters, l)Ut are confeik-rated as one Clnirch in respect to 
general j)rinciples of doctrine and practice, and the prosecution of tlie foreign mis- 
sion work. Each province has a Synod. For the general government of the three 
pro^'inces and the foreign missions there is a General Synod, which meets every 
ten or twelve years, and to which each province sends the same number of dele- 
gates. The executive board of the Creneral Synod is called the "Unity's Elders' 
Conference,'' and is the highest judicatory for the whole Unitas Fratrum, when 
that Syn'jd is not in session. In the American province there are two districts. 
The seat of government for the Xortliern District is at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; 
and for the Southern, v.i :^alem, Xorth Carolina. The home Church in LSGO num- 
bered 10,633 menil'i/r-. Avhile there were 312 missionaries in the foreign field (not 
counting native a.-.-i.-tant> , and 74,538 converts. — ApphAyn'^ CijdopedLa. 



Peter Bolder — His Expei-ieiice. 



Ill 



the persecutions of the seventeenth century, they took measures, 
by planting their Charch in many lands, that defied general sup- 
IDression for the future. 

Zinzendorf, a Lutheran, was converted to the faith of his exile- 
guests, relinquished all worldly honors, became a bishoxD of the 
" Brethren," and devoted his life and estate to their service. His 
first episcopal act Avas to ordain- Peter B()hler (Dec. 16, 1737) as 
i:)astor of the infant church at Savannah and evangelist to the 
negroes of Carolina, with official instructions to visit Oxford, on 
his way to the distant field of labor. 

Peter Bohler was born at Frankfort, 1712. He was educated 
in the University of Jena, where he also studied theology. AVhen 
sixteen years of age, he joined the Moravians. His boyhood, 
though not unchecked by the monitions of conscience, nor desti- 
tute of vigorous efforts after a purer morality, was wild and 
wicked. Bohler's associates at Frankfort were not helj)ful to 
him, either in intellectual pursuits or the discipline of the heart. 
He speaks of them as "his gormandizing, tippling, and fighting- 
countrymen." Several members of the roystering band having 
been recently transferred to Jena, his spiritual danger was ex- 
treme. Happily, a pious student, afterward a bishop, who had 
come to Jena a few days before the arrival of his friend, was so 
disgusted with the state of morals that he had sought refuge 
with the "Brethren;" and when Bohler reached the post-house, 
at one in the morning, he found Baumeister in attendance, to 
conduct him to the house where their religious meetings were 
held. Bohler, without any definite purpose, followed him to the 
place; and when in the early morning he was assailed by the 
importunities of the godless party, who besought him to leave 
the persecuted pietists, he was deaf to their entreaties and their 
taunts, and felt as though "restrained by an invisible hand." 

One day B()hler attended a meeting held by Spangenberg, 
then a professor in the university, in which he commented on a 
pamphlet of Spener's. A sentence expressive of the Saviour's 
power to free from all sin caught the ear of Bohler. The efiect 
was instantaneous. " I have tried every thing in the world except- 
ing this!" exclaimed the conscience-stricken student; "but this 
I will try." Retiring to the house of the pious deacon, where 
he had secured lodgings, and found a welcome retreat from the 
scoffs and profanity of the witlings and skeptics v>dio unhappily 



112 



History of Methodism. 



abounded, he resolved to seek the blessing of forgiveness in the 
evangelical mode of which Spangenberg had been the faithful 
expositor. After combating a perilous temptation to procras- 
tinate, he, on the following Saturday, cast himself, in the spirit 
of genuine penitence, at the Saviour's feet; and, while engaged 
in secret prayer, he w^as enabled to believe upon the Son of God, 
and immediately realized the peace and joy he had so long and 
so earnestly desired. 

His conversion produced the legitimate effects. The witness 
of the Spirit was his joyful experience; the New Testament was 
his favorite study, and furnished him weapons of defense against 
scoffers. From various causes the number of the "associated 
students" had been reduced to nine; and at their request Zin- 
zendorf appeared, to reorganize the little band. It w^as during 
the visit of the Count to Jena in 1732 that the life-long attach- 
ment between him and B()hler w^as formed. Betv>'een the tw^o 
a most sacred vow w^as made that they would be true to the cause 
and service of their common Lord even to the death. 

By the direction of his father he removed to Leipsic — perhaps 
to escape "enthusiasm;" but his residence at Leipsic was brief; 
and from causes which do not appear, he shortly returned to Jena. 
Here his influence in promoting spiritual good w^as extensive and 
powerful. The little band of nine increased to one hundred, of 
whom more than half joined the Moravian Church. Many of 
these reappear as evangelists and pastors in distant lands. 

On recovering from an attack of fever, Bohler paid his first 
visit to Herrnhut; and, wdiile preaching "with a vrarm and melted 
heart," Schulius Eichter, wdiom we shall meet in Georgia, w^as led 
to the Saviour. Taking leave of his Jena friends in a love-feast, 
attended by many to whom he had been the instrument of salva- 
tion, and followed by their prayers and tears, Bohler set out for 
London, vvhere he arrived early in February, 1738, accompanied 
by two of his brethren. On the day of his arrival, John Wesley 
delivered to him a letter addressed to Zinzendorf, from John 
Toltschig, a Moravian minister, whose acquaintance Wesley had 
formed in Savannah. 

Wesley's journal notices the event: 

February Ttli. A day much to be remembered. At the liouse of Mr. Wei- 
nantz, a Dutch merchant, I n^et Peter Bohler, Schulius Eichter, and Wensel Neiser, 
just then landed from Germa.ny. Finding they had no acquaintance in England, 



Peter Bohler and the Wesleys. 



113 



I offered to procure for them a lodging, and did so, near Mr. Hutton's, wliere I 
then was. And from this time I did not willingly lose any opportunity of con- 
versing with them while I staid in London. 

Peter Bohler did not finally leave London till the beginning 
of May ; and during this interval he was very active in his efforts 
to do good. Many were awakened and not a few converted un- 
der his plain and scriptural teaching. His instrumentality in 
bringing the Wesleys to right views and sound experience may 
be seen by a few notices from his private papers, and brief 
extracts from the journals of the two brothers — both of whom 
being in the same condition, Bohler's counsel was as applicable 
to the one as to the other. Doubtless, the nature of the faith by 
means of which the penitent sinner receives justification, and 
which is followed by the assurance of the Divine favor — that faith 
which Bohler had exercised in his private room at Jena, but 
which the Wesleys had not yet put forth — formed the central 
topic of discourse.''^' 

Charles became Bohler's teacher in English; but meantime 
conversation was not restrained with the foreigner. John spoke 
German, and the two brothers, for five or six years, had been 
accustomed to converse in Latin when by themselves, and here 
Bohler was at home. What transpired between the 7th and 17th 
of February is at best matter of conjecture; but on the latter 
day the two brothers and their German friend proceeded by coach 
to Oxford. The reproach which had been formerly endured, now 
revived; and. even as they walked through the squares of the 
colleges, they became the occasion of derisive laughter. Bohler, 
perceiving that Wesley was troubled chiefly for his sake, said, 
with a smile, ^^Mi f rater, non adlmret restil>iis.'' [My brother, it 
does not even stick to our clothes.] 

"All this time," observes John Wesley, "I conversed much 
with Peter Bohler; but I understood him not, and least of all 
when he said, 'Mi f rater, mi /rater, excoquenda est ista tua j^hiloso- 
2)h ia.' " [My brother, my brother, that philosophy of yours must 
be purged away.] During the journey, Bohler's mind had been 
painfully exercised. He writes to Zinzendorf: "I traveled with 
the two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, from London to 
Oxford. The elder, John, is a good-natured man; he knew he 

■^Memorials of the Life of Peter Bohler, by Kev. J. P. Lockwood; with an in- 
troduction by Kev. Thos. Jackson. London: Wesleyan Conference Office, 1868, 
8 



114 



Hisforij of Mctliodism. 



did not properly belieye on the SaAdour, and Avas Avilling to be 
taught. His brother is at present much distressed in his 
mind^ but dees not know how he shall begin to be acquainted 
with the SaA'iour. Our mode oi belieAdng in the Saviour is so 
easy to Englishmen that they cannot reconcile themseh^es to it; 
ii it were a little more artful, they would sooner find their way 
into it." 

Bohler's povrers of com^ersation were attractive. Escorted by 
a graduate, he -proceeded to examine the university library; 
and after spending half an hour amidst its literary treasures, 
he addressed his learned companion in the Latin tongue, and 
kept him spell -bound for tv/o hours, as he discoursed on 
"the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the Avorld." 
Blessings attended his interpreted discourses both in London 
and Oxford, and a work Avas begun, says Wesley, " such as AAdll 
neA^er come to an end, till heaven and earth pass away." In his 
instructions to Ausit the ancient seat of learning, we recognize the 
guidance of " Him who holdeth the seven stars in his rightdiand," 
who has made the spiritual interests of his Church the object of 
his ceaseless care, and whose prerogative it is to select, prepare, 
and bless the agents employed for its reA-iA^al and prosperity. 

John returned to preach in London and to visit his mother, 
leaving his brother both tutor and pupil to the German evangel- 
ist. Charles records in his journal, under February 22: "I had 
some close couA^ersation Avith Peter Bohler. He talked much of the 
necessity of prayer and faith." A few days afterward, the bard 
of Methodism was nigh unto death from pleurisy. Bohler was 
at his bedside. The journal continues: 

I iislced ]iim to prar for me. He seemed miAvilling at first; but Legimiing very 
faintlv, lie raised his voice Ly degrees, nnd prayed for my recovery "svith a strange 
confidence. He asked me, "Do yon liope to Le saved?" ''Yes." "For what 
reason do yon hope it?" "Because I have used my hest endeavors to serve God." 
He shook his head, and said no more. I thought him very nncliaritable, saying 
in my heart: " \Yhat, are not my endeavors a suflficient ground of hope? Woukl 
he rob me of my endeavors? I have nothing else to trust to." 

John's journal says: " Thursday morning, March 2d, a message 
that my brother Charles was dying at Oxford obliged me to set 
out for that place immediately." He reached the lodgings of 
his afflicted brother on Saturday, March 4th, and writes: " I found 
my brother at Oxford, recovering from his pleurisy; and Avith 
him Peter Bohler — by whom, in the hands of the great God, I. 



Peter hohler and the Wesley s. 



115 



was on Sunday, tlie 5tli, clearly conyincecl of unbelief, of the 
want of faith yv^hereby alone we can be saved." 

From Bohler we learn that the event so fraught Vv^ith future 
blessings occurred daring a quiet evening walk. "I took a walk 
v/ith the elder Y/esley, and asked him about his spiritual state." 

Good seed halving been sown among students and citizens in 
Oxford, the AYork is resumed in London. On Thursday, March 
23d, Wesley wrote thus in his journal: "I met Peter again, who 
now amazed me more and more by the accounts he gave of the 
fruits of living faith — the holiness and happiness v/hicli he af- 
firmed to attend it. The next morning I began the Greek Tes- 
tament again, resolving to abide by ' the law and the testimony,' 
and being confident that God would hereby show me whether 
this doctrine was of God." On the first of the following Aiiril, 
v/e read in his journal: "Being at Mr. Fox's society, my heari: 
was so full that I could not confine myself to the forms of prayer 
AThich we were accustomed to use there. Neither do I purpose 
to be confined to them any mere, but to pray indifferently, with 
a form or without, as may be suitable to particular occasions." 

The next day, being the Sabbath, he speaks of his minis- 
terial labors, and adds: "I see the promise; but it is afar off." 
April 22d, another interview occurred; and the journals of Wes- 
ley and of Bohler are mutually illustrative and suggestive. "I 
met Peter Bohler once more," Avrites Wesley. "I had now no 
objection to what he said of the nature of faith — namely, that it 
is (to use the words of our Church ) ' a sure trust and confidence 
which a man hath, that through the merits of Christ his sins are 
forgiven, and he reconciled to the favor of God.' Neither could 
I deny either the happiness or holiness which he described as 
' the fruits of living faith.' But I could not comxDrehend what 
he spoke of an instantaneous work. I could not understand how 
this faith should be given in a moment; how a man could at once 
be thus turned from darkness to light, from sin and misery to 
righteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost. I searched the Script- 
ures again, touching this very thing, particularly the Acts of the 
Apostles, but, to my utter astonishment, found scarce any in- 
stances there of other than instantaneous conversions — scarce any 
so slow as that of St. Paul, wdio was three days in the pangs of 
the new birth. I had but one retreat left, namely: 'Thus, I 
grant, God wrought in the first ages of Christianity; but the 



116 



History of Methodism. 



times are cliauged. TTliat reason have I to belieye he works iu 
tlie same manner now? ' But on Sunday, 23d, I was beat out of 
tliis retreat too, by the concurring evidence of several living 
witnesses, who testified God had so wrought in themselves, giv- 
inof them, in a moment, such a faith in the blood of his Son as 
translated them out of darkness into light, and fi'om sin and fear 
into holiness and happiness. Here ended my disputing. I could 
now only cry out, ' Lord, helj^ thou my unbelief I 

'•'I took," sa^'s Peter Bohler, "four of my English brethren to 
John Lesley, that they might relate their experience to him, how 
the Saviour so soon and so mightily has compassion, and accepts 
the sinner. They told, one after another, what had been wrought 
in them ; Wolff, especially, in whom the change was quite recent, 
spoke very heartily, mightily, and in confidence of his faith. 
John Wesley and those that were with him were as if thunder- 
struck at these narrations. I asked him what he then believed. 
He said four examples were not enough- to prove the thing. To 
satisfy his objections, I replied I would bring eight more here 
in London. After a short time he stood up and said: ' We will 
sing that hymn, Hier Jegt mein Sinn sich vor dir niede)'.' 

^ly soul before tliee j)rostrate lies, 
To tliee, her sjiirce, my sj)irit flies; 
My wants I mourn, my chains I see; 
O let thy presence set me free I 

Bohl-er continues: '"'During the singing of the Moravian ver- 
sion, he often wiped his eyes. Immediately after, he took me 
alone into his own room and declared ' that he was now satisfied 
of what I said of faith, and he would not question any more 
about it; that he was clearly convinced of the want of it; but 
how could he help himself, and how could he obtain such faith? 
He was a man that had not sinned so gi'ossly as other people.' 
I replied that it was sin enough that he did not believe on the 
Saviour; he should not depart from the door of the Saviour until 
he helped him. He wept heartily and bitterly as I spoke to him 
on this matter, and insisted that I must pray with him.'' 

"^The original was composed by a pious physician, well read in theology, and 
connected with the Orphan -house at Halle at the time of Francke. He, along 
Avith his brother, prepared the drugs which were known as the "medicines of 
Halle," which being in great repute, tended not a little to defray the expenses of 
the institution. The above version is that of Wesley, 1739. — Loekuvod. 



Illness of Charles Wesley. 



117 



Wesley had not attained the blessing for which he so earnestly 
sought: now he had clearer views. He began to declare that 
doctrine of faith which he has been taught. For in answer to 
his question whether he ought not to leave off i^reaching, Bbli- 
ler replied: "Preach faith till you have it; and then, because 
you have it, you will preach it." He was also much confirmed 
in the truth by hearing the experience of Mr. Hutchins, of Pem- 
broke College, and Mrs. Fox — "two living witnesses," he says, 
"that God can at least, if he does not always, give that faith 
whereof cometh salvation, in a moment, as lightning falling from 
heaven." 

Blendon, the spacious residence of the Delamotte family, was no 
stranger to Methodist visitors. John and Charles Wesley, and 
Broughton, if no others, w^ere there April 25. Charles's journal 
says: "We sang, and fell into a dispute wdiether conversion was 
gradual or instantaneous. My brother was very positive for the 
latter, and very shocking; mentioned some late instances of gross 
sinners believing in a moment. I was much offended at his 
worse than unedifying discourse, and insisted a man need not 
know when first he had faith. His obstinacy in favoring the 
contrary opinion drove me at last out of the room'. After din- 
ner, I read the Life of Mr. Haliburton; one instance, but only 
one, of instantaneous conversion." Three days later, he is at his 
London lodgings, dangerously ill: 

In the morning Dr. Cockburn came to see me; and a better physician — Peter 
Bohler — whom God had detained in England for my good. He stood by my bed- 
side and prayed over me; that now, at least, I might see the Divine intention in 
this and my late illness. I immediately thought it might be that I should again 
consider Bohler's doctrine of faith; examine myself whether I was in the faith; and 
if I was not, never cease seeking and longing after it till I attained it. 

Wesley returned to Oxford, Bohler walking Avith him a few 
miles; but he was hastily recalled by tidings of his brother's re- 
lapse, on whose spiritual condition he expresses himself thus: 

May 1st. The return of ray brother's illness obliged me again to hasten to Lon- 
don. In the evening I found him better, as to his health, than I expected; but 
strongly averse from what he called "the new faith." 

But after the interval of a single day this entry is found: 

May 3d. My brother had a long and particular conversation with Peter Bohler. 
And it now pleased God to open his eyes, so that he also saw clearly Avhat was the 
nature of that one true, living faith, whereby alone ''through grace we are saved." 



lis 



History of Mefhodism. 



Having fulfilled his lirief mission in England^ BoMer em- 
barked for America, May 4, leaving the Tfesleys hungering and 
thirsting for the righteousness of f aithi In a short time Charles 
found peace with God, as he lay on the bed of sickness. As he 
Tvas the first of the brothers -^ho received the name of Method- 
ist, so was he the fii'st to learn by experience the saving tTuth 
which Methodism was destined to witness to the world. Durino- 

o 

this interval he was visited by several persons, of whom some 
had obtained "the pearl of great price," and others were j^ress- 
ing hard after it; for a spirit of inquiry on the subject of religion 
was then extensively excited, partly by the recent preaching of 
Whitefield, partly by the private labors of Bohler, and parth' by 
the preaching of J ohn "Wesley, who was admitted into several 
of the London pulpits, and was followed by immense crowds of 
people. A special interest attached to him as a returned mis- 
sionary whose journal had been read, as well as a preacher of 
strong, if not strange, doctrines. 

As an illustration of the manner in which Charles Wesley 
waited upon God for the gift of faith, and of the salvation con- 
nected with it, the following selections from his journal are given: 

May 12th. I waked in tlie same blessed temper, hungry and thirsty after God. 
I began Isaiah, and seemed to see that to me were the promises made, and would 
be fulfilled; for that Christ loved me. I found myself more desirous, more as- 
sured, I should l elieve. This day (and indeed my whole time) I spent in dis- 
coursing on faith, either with those that had it, or those that sought it ; in reading 
the ' -. and in prayer. At night my brother came, exceeding heavT. T 
force - he had often forced me) to sing a hymn to Christ; and almost 

thought he would come while we w : assured he would come quick] v. 

May 14th. The beginning of the heav^-, weary, and unable to prav: 

but the desire soon returned, and I found much comfort both in prayer and in the 
word — my eyes being opened more and more to discover and lay hold upon tlie 
jjromises. I longed to find Christ, that I might show him to all mankind; that I 
might praise, that I might love him. Several persons called to-day, and were 
convinced of unbelief. 

May 17th. To-day I first saw Luther on the Galatians. I marveled that Ave 
were so soon and so entirely removed from him that called us into tlie grace of 
Christ, unto another gospel. Who would believe our Church had been founded 
upon this important article of justification by faith alone? I am astonished I 
should ever think this a new doctrine, especially wliiie our articles and homilies 
stand unrepealed, and the key of knowledge is not yet taken away. 

J.Iay 21st, 1738. I waked in hope and expectation of His coming. At nine mv 
brother and some friends came and sang a hymn to the Holy Ghost. My comfort 
an 1 hop-e were hereby increased. In about half an hour they vrent. I betook 



C'liarles Finds Best to his Soul. 



119 



niV;-oir to praver, the substance as folloAvs: O Jesus, tliou hast said, "I vdll come 
unio you;" thou hast said, "I Avill send the Comforter unto you;" thou hast said, 
jiY Father and I will come unto you and make our abode svith you." Thou art 
God, wlio canst not lie. I wholly rely upon thy most true promise. Accomplish 
it in thy tirne and manner. 

"Wliile a pions meclianic wlio nursed liim'-"" Ti'as reading tlie 
tliirty-second Psalm — " Blessed is lie v/hcse transgression is 
forgiven, Vvdiose sin is covered. Blessed is the man nntowliom 
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no 
guile "—he says: "The Spirit of God strove with my own, and 
the evil spirit, till by degrees he chased away the darkness of my 
unbelief. I found myself convinced, I kneAv not how nor when; 
and immediately fell to intercession. I now found myself at 
peace v/ith God, and rejoiced in hope of loving Christ. My tem- 
per for the rest of the day was mistrust of my own great but un- 
known weakness." 

" To use his own expressive language," says Thomas Jackson, 
" he held the Saviour with a trembling hand; but by prayer, spir- 
itual conversation, and the practical study of the inspired, vol- 
ume, his confidence waxed stronger, and his evidence of the Bi- 
■\mQ favor became increasingly distinct and vivid." f 

When John Wesley left the sick-bed of his brother that morn- 
ing, he went to one of the churches in London and assisted in the 
administration of the Lord's Supper. " On leaving the church," 
says he, " I received the surprising nevrs that my brother had 
found rest to his soul. His bodily strength returned also from 
that hour. 'Who is so great a God as our God?' " 

John Wesley was still a mourner. His heart was heavy. He 
v/as doubtless greatly encouraged by his brother's happy expe- 
rience. On the day after he had found peace, Charles says : " My 
brother coming, 'we joined in intercession for him. Li the even- 
ing we sang and prayed again." Two more days, and then, on May 
2-i, at five in the morning, Wesley opened his Testament on these 
v^ords: " Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious 
promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nat- 

Ho says, in his iournal: '^God sent Mr. Bray to me, a poor, ignorant mechan- 
ic, who knows nothing but Christ ; yet, by knovnng him, knows and discerns all 
things." Bray was a happy believer in the Lord Jesus, and was able, from his 
own personal experience, as well as from the sacred volume, to teach even the ac- 
com.plished. collegian "the v,'ay of the Lord more perfectly" than he had hither- 
to known i*. This was May 21st, Wliitsunday. t Life of C. Wesley. 



120 



Hisfori/ of Methodism. 



ure." On leaying home lie opened on the text, ■'• Thou art not 
far from the kingdom of God." In the afternoon he ^ent to St. 
Panhs Cathedi'al. The anthem was : 

Out of the de823 have I called unto tliee, O Lord. Lord, liear my voice. 
O let thine ears* consider well the voice of mv comjDlaint. 

If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may 
abide it ? 

For there is mercy with thee; therefore shalt thou be feared. 

O Israel, trust in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is 

IDleateous redemption. 
And he shall redeem Israel from all his sins. 

In the eyening he went very unwillingly to a society in Aklers- 
gate-street, where a layi:: - ■ reading Luther's preface to the 
Epistle to the Eomaus, u— ing saving faith. Possessed of it, 
the heart is ''cheered, elevated, and transported with sweet af- 
fections toward God." Eec eiving the Holy Ghost through faith, 
the man "is renewed and m-:.A^ -^liritual," and he is impelled to 
rulfill the law ''by the vital energy in himself." Wesley says: 

About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God 
works in the heart tlirough faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I 
felt I did trust in Christ. Christ aL^ne, for salvation; and an assurance was given 
me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the "law of 
sin and death." I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a mora 
especial manner despitefally used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly 
to all there what I now first felt in my heart. Bat it was not long before the en- 
emy suggested, "This cannot be faith, for where is thy joy?" Then was I taught 
that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the Captain of our salva- 
tion ; but that as to the transports of joy that usually attend the beginning of it, 
especially in those who have mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes 
withholdeth them, according to the c-junsei of his own will. After my return 
home I was much bufl^eted with temptations, but cried out and they fled awav. 
They retm-ned again and again : I as often lifted up my eyes, and he sent me hel ) 
from his holy place. And herein I found the difi^erence bet^veen this and my for- 
mer state chiefly consisted. I was striving — yea, fighting — with all my might, under 
the law, as well as under grace. But tiien I was sometimes, if not often, conquered ; 
7101C" I was always conqueror, 

"His exi)erience," says Eicliard AVatson, ''nurtured by habit- 
ual prayer, and deepened by unwearied exertion in the cause of 
his Saviour, settled into that steadfast faith and solid peace which 
the grace of God peii-.t- l in him to the close of his long and 
active life." 

Such was the way by which these men, who were to teach oth ■ 
ers, at length came "into the libeiiy of the sons of God." But 



By Grace are ye Saved Tlirough Faith." 



121 



for tlie tliorns and briers tlirougli which they passed; but for the 
wormwood and the gall they drank, during dreary years, they 
had not been so Avell fitted to awaken, to comfort, and to guide 
others. Being now possessed of the true key to all sound relig- 
ious experience, and of a power in their ministry which they had 
never wielded before, the brothers immediately entered upon an 
energetic course of evangelical labor, calling sinners to repent- 
ance, and proclaiming to rich and poor, old and young, men and 
vromen of moral habits, and profligate transgressors, including 
convicts under sentence of death, pardon and peace as " the com- 
mon salvation," to be obtained by all alike, through faith in the 
blood of Christ. Others caught the theme and carried on the 
Avork.^ 

Before the end of the month Charles AYesley's health was so 
far improved that he was able to go abroad. In consequence of 
his affliction he was, as yet, unable to address congregations in 
public; but, like the apostles at Jerusalem, "daily, and in every 
house," where he could gain access, "he ceased not to teach and 
preach Jesus Christ." In private companies, Avhere many re- 
sorted to him, he read the Scriptures, sang hymns, related his 
religious experience, and urged upon all the duty and privilege 
of an immediate application to Christ, in faith for pardon and 
peace and holiness. The most perfect picture of his feelings 
and character at this period is that which was drawn years after- 
ward by his own hand: " How happy are they, who their Saviour 
obey! " 

The doctrine of present salvation from sin, by faith in the Lord 
Jesus, was like fire in his bcnes. His heart burned with love to 
Christ, and with zeal for the advancement of his work and glory; 
his bowels yearned in pity for the souls of unregenerate men, 
while his faith set at defiance all opposition. Scarcely a day 
passed but one or more persons were convinced of the truth, and 
believed to the saving of their souls. 

Eighteen days after his conversion (June 11th), John Wesley 
preached before the University at Oxford that famous sermon 
on "By grace are ye saved through faith" — henceforth his fa- 
vorite theme, and the key-note of his ministry. f He describes 
this faith and its fruits, answers objections, and shows that to 
preach salvation by faith only is not to preach against holiness 



* Watson's Life of AVesley. 



t^o. I., in Siandard Edition of liis Sermons. 



122 



History of Methodism. 



and good vrorks. To the rich, the learned, the reputable before 
him, he makes faithful aT)plication : 

'When no more ol-jection?. t]iea v,-o are simply told that salvation Ly faitli only 
onglit not to Le preached as ih- ih--: d .( trine, or at least not to Le preached to all. 
Eut v.-liat sairh X\\e Ilcly Ghost? ''l^Lhcr foundation can no man lay than that 
AvhioJi is laid, even Jesus Christ." So, then, tltat " v.diosoever Lelieveth on him 
shall he saved,'' is, and must he, tlie lotmdation of all our preaching; that is, must 
be preaclied first. " Vrell, hut not to all." To vdiom, then, are we not to preach 
it? AVliom shall vre except? The poor? ^S'ay; they have a pectiliar right to 
have the gospel preached unto them. The unlearned? Xo. God hath revealed 
these tilings unto unlearned and ignorant men from the heginning. The yoirng? 
By no r.vc:i:i '•Sutler these," in anwise, to come unto Christ, "and forhid them 
net." Tl:- ^inners? Least of alL "He came not to call the rigliteous, hut sin- 
ners, to repentance." Yv^hy then, if any, vre are to excej^t the rich, the learned, 
the reputahle, the moral men. And it is true, they too often except themselves 
from liearing; yet we must speak the vrords of our Lord. For thus the tenor of 
our commission runs: "Go and preach tlie gospel to every creature." If any man 
wrest it, or any part of it, to his destruction, he must hear his own hurden. But 
still, " as the Lord liveth, whatsoever the Lord saith unto us, tlutt vre will speak." 

Ho\T could ^Yesley ever be called a papist, even by foolish en- 
emies, vrhen he preached doctrine so destrnctive of the Eomish 
delusion? — "At this time more especially vrill vre speak, that 'by 
grace are ye saved through faith,' because never v>-as the main- 
taining this doctrine more seasonable than it is at this day. 
ISothing but this can effectually prevent the increase of the Eom- 
ish delusion among us. It is endless to attack, one by one, all 
the errors of tliat Church. But salvation by faith strikes at the 
root, and all fall at once vrhere this is established. It was this 
d 'jtv':i * ' justly calls the strong rock and foiin- 

, , that first drove popery out of these 
kingdoms; and it is this alone can keep it out. Xothing but this 
can icive a check to that innn::rality vdiich hath 'overspread the 
land as a £io::d.' Can you empty the great deep drop by drop? 
Thv^n y^:al may reform us 1 y dissuasives from particular vices. 
But let the 'rightecuine^s v hich is of God by faith' be brought 
in, and so shall its proud waves be stayed." 

Such was the great doctrine which Wesley began to preach 
in 173S. It was the preaching of this doctrine that gave birth 
to the revival of religion — "the religious movement of the eight- 
eenth century " — called Methodism. 



CHAPTER X. 



Christian Experience: Its Place in Methodism— Tlie Almost Christian— Wes^ 
lev's Conversion; His Testimony— The Yfitness of the Holy Spirit— The 
Witness of Our Own Spirit— Joint Testimony to Adoption. 

IT is not the truth, but the personal apprehension and appli- 
cation of the truth, that saves. The concrete doctrine, as 
embodied and illustrated in experience, is of at least equal 
practical importance with the abstract doctrine, as stated in 
books. Methodism puts emphasis on experience. St. Paul mere 
than once told how he was converted. The subjective aspects of 
Christianity, as presented in his epistles, are as striking as the 
objective. Experimental religion is not a cant phrase; it ex- 
presses a real and a great fact. It has been well said: Methodism 
reversed the usual policy of religious sects, which seek to sustain 
their spiritual life by their orthodoxy; it has sustained its ortho- 
doxy by devoting its chief care to its spiritual life, and for more 
than a century had no serious outbreaks of heresy, notvdthstand- 
ing the masses of untrained minds, gathered vrithin its pale, and 
the general lack of preparatory education among its clergy. No 
other modern religious body affords a parallel to it in this re- 
spect. 

The doctrine of conscious conversion, and of a direct vritness 
of the Spirit testifying to the heart of the believer that he is a 
child of God, T\as the doctrine which exposed the founder of 
Methodism to the opposition of the formalists of the Church, 
and the ridicule of the philosophists of the world. His personal 
experience connects itself with this doctrine. He has made the 
full disclosure; and according to an eminent authcrity "it is the 
only true key to his theological system and to his public minis- 
try." f It would be difficult, he thinks, to fix upon a more inter- 
esting and instructive moral spectacle than that which is present- 
ed by the progress of his mind, through all its deep and serious 
agitations, doubts, difficulties, hopes, and fears, from his earliest 
religious awakenings tj the moment when he found that stead- 
fast peace which never rfterward forsook him, but gave serenity 

'"•"Stevens's History of Metliodism. fAYatscn's Life of Vresley. 

(123) 



121 



Histo}'ij of Methodism. 



to his countenance, and cheerfulness to his heart, to the last mo- 
ment of a prolonged life. This critical passage of Wesleyan 
biography is thus defended by Watson against the solutions or 
cavils of men whose treatment of the subject is as unjust to Chris- 
tianity as to Methodism: 

"If the appointed method of man's salvation, laid down in the 
gospel, be gratuitous pardon through faith in the merits of Christ's 
sacrifice, and if a method of seeking justification by the works 
of moral obedience to the Divine law be plainly placed by St. 
Paul in opposition to this, and declared to be vain and fruitless; 
then, if in this way the Wesleys sought their justification before 
God, we see how true their own statement must of necessity have 
been — that, with all their efforts, they could obtain no solid peace 
of mind, no deliverance from the enslaving fear of death and final 
punishment, because they sought that by imperfect works which 
God has appointed to be attained by faith alone. Theirs was 
not, indeed, a state of heartless formality and self -deluding Phar- 
isaism, aiming only at external obedience. It was just the re- 
verse of this; they were awakened to a sense of danger, and they 
aimed at — nay, struggled with intense efforts after — universal ho- 
liness, inward and outward. But it was not a state of salvation; 
and if we find a middle state like this described in the Scriptures 
— a state in transit from dead formality to living faith and moral 
deliverance — the question, with respect to the truth of their rep- 
resentations as to their former state of experience, is settled. 

" Such a middle state we see plainly depicted by the Apostle 
Paul, in the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. There 
the mind of the person described ' consents to the law that it is 
good,' but finds in it only greater discoveries of his sinfulness 
and danger; there the effort, too, is after universal holiness — 'to 
v/ill is present,' but the power is wanting; every struggle binds 
the chain tighter; sighs and groans are extorted, till self -despair 
succeeds, and the true Deliverer is seen and trusted in: 'O 
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of 
this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord.' The 
deliverance also, in the case described by St. Paul, is marked 
with the same characters as those exhibited in the conversion of 
the Wesleys : ' There is now no condemnation to them which are 
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spir- 
it; for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made 



Wesley's Steadfast Testimony. 



125 



me free from tlie law of sin and death.' ' Therefore, being jus- 
tified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus 
Christ.' Every thing in the account of the change Y>Tought in 
the two brothers, and several of their friends about the same 
time, answers, therefore, to the New Testament. Xor was 
their experience, or the doctrine upon which it Avas founded, 
new, although in that age of declining piety unhappily not com- 
mon." 

Southey, against whose callous and flippant criticism Watson 
more especially wrote, thought Wesley's feelings might have been 
accounted for by referring to " the state of his pulse or stomach." 
But it does not appear that his health was at all disordered. 
Fanaticism and enthusiasm are terms in plentiful use. Coleridge, 
in a marginal note, explains the phenomenon of AVesley's conver- 
sion as "a throb of sensibility accompanying a vehement volition of 
acquiescence." The world has not ceased to wonder why Southey 
— the ci-devant Socinian — should write the life of John Wesley. 
Total want of sympathy for the best parts of his subject "ren- 
dered him as incapable of laying down the geography of the 
moon as of giving the moral portraiture of Wesley." His in- 
competency for such a task was aptly expressed by one of Wes- 
ley's early biographers: "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, 
and the well is deep."'- 

That so devout and self-denying a man should be a stranger 
to the full salvation — only an "almost Christian" — offends the 
formalist. On May 24, 1738, John Wesley "received such a 
sense of the forgiveness of sins as till then he never knew." This 
was his steadfast testimony. The place and the hour — " about a 
quarter before nine " — he circumstantially and minutely recollects. 
His testimony is: "I felt my heart strangely Avarmed. I felt I 
did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance 
was given me that he had taken away niy sins, even mine.'" This 
must be accepted as the time of his conversion — meaning, by this 
term, his obtaining the conscious forgiveness of his sins, and 
the witness of the Holy Ghost to his adoption as a child of God. 

■^Southey purposed making the amende honorable in a third edition, for his mis- 
conception, and accordingly his misrepresentation, of Wesley, that ''the love of 
power was the ruling passion of his mind ; " but this modification of the Avork was 
suppressed by his son, a I igoted Churchman, on whom the responsibility of its pub- 
lication was devolved. See " Smith's History of Wesleyan Methodism," page 635. 



126 



Hhfori/ of MethGcUsr,!. 



In the primary sense oi conversion — a turning from sin to God, 
witli v.:K- measure of faith — the good vrork seems to have been 
begun in Lim before. Eef erring to the past, he testifies : " During 
this Trhole struggle between nature and grace, which had novr con- 
tinued above ten years, I had many remarliable returns to prayer, 
especially when I was in trouble; I had many sensible comforts, 
which are indeed no othor than short anticipations of the life of 
faith. But I was still lo oi law, not under grace — the state 

most who are called Ci-- :..3 are content to live and die in. 
For I was only striving with, not freed from, sin; neither had I 
'the witness oi the Spirit with my sj^irit.' " 

He had L >ng been a subject of gracious iniiuence; and while 
writing bittrv things against himself and condemning his spirit- 
ual state, he had much to be thankful for. Consequently in his 
later ministry, and in the final revision of his journal, we find 
certain expressions of a former date guarded and qualified by 
his own hand.'" Pieturning from Georgia, he wrote: 

It is ROAV t-R-0 years and aim st four months since I left my native country, in 
order to teach the Georgian Indians the nature of Christianity; but what liave I 
learned myself in the meantime? AVhy (what I the least of all suspected), that 
I, who went to America to convert others, was never myself converted to God. (I 
am not sure of this.) 

The concluding parenthesis was added afterward by himself. 
Recounting, in the same meditation, what he had done and 
suffered in the cause of Christ, he said: 

Does all this give me a claim to the holy, heavenly, divine character of a Chris- 
ti rn? By no means. If the oracle- of God are true, if we are still to abide by 
"the law and the testimony ; " all tli ihiiiis, though, when ennobled by faith in 
Christ,^ they are holy and just and good, yet without it are "dung and dross." 

This foot-note was subsequently inserted to the last sentence : 
"tl had even then the faith of a servant, though not that of a sou.'" 
In this searching meditation he expressed a severe opinion: 

This, then, have I learned in the ends of the earth — that I "am fallen short 
of the glory of God;" that my whole heart is "altogether corrupt and abomi- 
nable;" and, consequently; my vrhole life I'-^eein^- it cannot be that an "evil tree" 
should "bring forth good fruit " * : that alic-n;it&d as I am from "the life of God," 
I am "a child of wrath," an heir of hell.* 

The final foot-note is short but expressive: "^I believe not." 

^AVe-lr-vO .I(.!;rnul: In tvro v : ;!;,;•-. From the latest London edition; with 
last correcii' of the author. l:-ev,- Y^,rk edhion: 1^37. 



" The Almost Christian:' 



127 



His journal before quoted lias described an interyievv^ of 
memorable consequence, which occurred in March of this year: 

Saturday, 4. I found my brother at Oxford, recovering from his pleurisy; and 
witli him Peter Bohler; by whom (in the hand of the great God) I was, on Sunday, 
the 5th, clearly convinced of unbelief, of tlie want of faith whereby alone we are 
saved. (With the full Christian salvation.) 

The concluding parenthesis was added afterward by himself."^ 
These last touches to his journal are noteworthy. Without 
withdrawing Wesley's good confession, they give his maturest 
views and self -interpretation, in tenderness and charity to those 
in whom is a spark of grace, or faith as a grain of mustard-seed. 
He would not break the bruised reed or quench the smoking flax. 
Against Molther, who held that no man has any degree of saving 
faith before he has the full assurance, the abiding witness of tlie 
Spirit, Wesley maintained the thesis that " There are degrees in 
faith, and that a man may have some degree of it before all things 
in him are become new; before he has the full assurance of 
faith, the abiding witness of the SiDirit." None called more 
loudly and constantly than he, "Let us go on to perfection;" 
yet none was more tender and careful of the "weak in faith." 
Five months after his conversion, being asked by his brother 
Samuel what he meant by being made a Christian, John re- 
plied: "By a Christian, I mean one who so believes in Christ 
as that sin hath no more dominion over him ; and in this obvious 
sense of the word, I was not a Christian till the 24th of May last 
past. Till then sin had dominion over me, although I fought with 
it continually; but from that time to this it hath not. Such is 
the free grace of God in Christ. If you ask me by ^\diat means 
I am made free, I answer, by faith in Christ; by such a sort or 
degree of faith as I had not till that day."t 

Three years later, preaching before the university on " The 
Almost Christian," J he allows to such a character sincerity and 
many other excellent qualities — "a real desire to serve God, a 

*At this period [about the time of their conversion] both tlie brothers under- 
valued the grace which they had previously received, and which led them to do 
and suffer many things for tbe glory of God, and tlie benefit of mankind. It is 
nevertheless undeniable that until they received and exemplified the doctrine of 
present salvation from the guilt and "power of sin by faith in Christ, tliey had 
neither of them attained to the true Christian character, as it is described in the 
apostolical epistles. — Jaclcsoii's Life of C. Wcdey, page 223. 

t Life and Times of Kev. John Wesley, M.A. J Sermon Xo. II. 



128 



Histoyu of Methodism. 



hearty desire to do liis will. It is necessarily implied that a man 
have a sincere yiew of pleasing God in all things; in all his con- 
versation; in all his actions; in all he does, or leaves undone. 
This design, if any man be almost a Clrristian, runs through the 
whole tenor of his life. This is the moving princij^le, both in 
his doing good, his abstaining from evil, and his using the ordi- 
nances of God." But this is not enough. If any should inquire: 
"Is it possible that any man living should go so far as this, and, 
nevertheless, be OiiJi/ ainrjst a Clni'sticoi? What more than this 
can be implied in the being a CIi/'istia)i altofjether? " — the preacher 
boldly meets the question, speaking where his life and conversa- 
tion had been well known : 

"I answer, first, that it is possible to go thus far, and yet be 
but almost a Christian, I learn, not only from the oracles of God, 
but also from the sure testimony of experience. Brethren, 
great is 'my boldness toward jow. in this behalf.' And 'forgive 
me this wrong,' if I declare my own folly upon the housetop, for 
yours and the gospel's sake. Suffer me, then, to speak freely of 
myself, even as of another man. I am content to be abased, so ye 
may be exalted, and to be yet more vile for the glory of my Lord. 
I did go thus far for many years, as many of this place can tes- 
tify ; using diligence to eschew all evil, and to have a conscience 
void of offense ; redeeming the time ; buying up every opportunity 
of doing all good to all men; constantly and carefully using all 
the private means of grace; endeavoring after a steady seriousness 
of behavior, at all times and in all places; and God is my record, 
before whom I stand, doing all this in sincerity; having a real 
design to serve God; a hearty desire to do his will in all things; to 
jDlease him who had called me to 'fight the good fight,' and to 'lay 
hold on eternal life.' Yet my own conscience beareth me witness 
in the Holy Ghost that all this time I was but almost a Christian.'' 

After commending to his hearers that "right and true Chris- 
tian faith" — "a sure trust and confidence which a man hath in 
God, that, by the merits of Christ, his sins are forgiven, and he 
reconciled to the favor of God; whereof doth follow a loving 
heart, to obey his commandments " — the university sermon con- 
cludes: "May we all thus experience what it is to be, not almost 
only, but altogether Christians;" being justified freely by his 
grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus; knowing we have 
peace with God through Jesus Christ; rejoicing in hope of the 



The Servant and tJie Son. 



129 



glory of God; and having the love of God shed abroad in our 
hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us!" 

That the meaning of a foot-note before quoted may be under- 
stood — " I had even then the faith of a servant, though not of a son " 
- — ^YQ give an extract from one of Wesley's sermons:"^ 

But what is faith which is jjroperly saving, which brings eternal salvation to 
all those that keep it to the end? It is such a divine conviction of God, and the 
things of God, as, even in its infant state, enables every one that possess it to "fear 
God and work righteousness." And whosoever, in every nation, believes thus far, 
the apostle declares, "is accej)ted of him." He actually is at the very moment in a 
state of acceptance. But he is at present only a servant of God, not properly a son. 
Meantime, let it be well observed that the "wrath of God" no longer "abidetli on 
him." 

Indeed, nearly fifty years ago, when the preachers commonly called Method- 
ists began to preach the grand scriptural doctrine, salvation by faith, they were 
not sufficiently apprised of the difference between a servant and a child of God. 
They did not clearly understand that even one "who feareth God, and worketh 
righteousness, is accepted of him." In consequence of this, they were apt to make 
sad the hearts of those whom God had not made sad. For they frequently asked 
those wlio feared God, "Do you know that your sins are forgiven?" And upon 
their answering "No," immediately replied, "Then you are a child of the devil." 
No ; that does not follow. It might have been said (and it is all that can be said 
with propriety): "Hitherto you are only a senxinf, you are not a child, of God. 
You have already great reason to praise God that he has called you to his honor- 
able service. Fear not. Continue crying unto him, "And you shall see greater 
things than these." 

And, indeed, unless the servants of God halt by the way, they will receive the 
adoption of sons. They will receive the faith of the children of God, by his reveal- 
ing his only-begotten Son in their hearts. Thus, the faith of a child is, properly 
and directly, a divine conviction, whereby every child of God is enabled to testify, 
" The life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave 
himself for me." And whosoever has this, the Spirit of God witnesseth with his 
spirit that he is a child of God. So the apostle writes to the Galatians: " Ye are 
the sons of God by faith. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit 
of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father;" that is, giving you child-like 
confidence in him, together with a kind affection toward him. This, then, it is 
that properly constitutes the difference between a servant of God and a child of 
God. "He that believeth," as a child of God, " hath the witness in himself." This 
the servant hath not. Yet let no man discourage him ; rather, lovingly exhort 
him to expect it every moment. 

From the hour of his adoption as a son, Wesley was another 
man, and his preaching another preaching. That was the gen- 
esis of Methodism. Before, he worked /o;- salvation; now, from 
salvation. Before, his word was unfruitful, and his few converts 



9 



* Sermon CV.: Text, Heb. xi. 6. 



130 Histortj of Methodism. 

fell away without his i^resence and support; now, his word is 
spirit and life, and the fruit abides. Before, he sought to save 
himself; now, to save others. Before, he coveted solitude, and 
declined the responsibility of two thousand souls at Epworth; 
now, the world is not too wide for him, nor the care of all the 
churches too heavy. When the sun passes meridian, there is 
no noise; but, from that supreme moment, all the shadows fall 
the other way. Every tree and tower and spire of grass casts 
its shadow in the opposite direction. 

Distinguishable from justification, but closely connected with 
it, is the doctrine of the direct witness of the Spirit. To 
this, Methodism has borne an emphatic testimony. It is not 
a Wesleyan dogma in the sense of having been discovered 
by Wesley, or of being exclusively held by Wesleyans; but 
they magnified it; they claimed it as the privilege of all be- 
lievers, and they urged all to seek the full salvation. The doc- 
- trine of the Trinity is called Athanasian; but Athanasius only 
formulated what others accepted and what he intensely believed. 
In all the controversies which arose respecting the religious ten- 
ets of the early Methodists, it was invariably maintained that 
theirs was "the old religion;" "the religion of the primitive 
Church." With respect to the doctrines Avhich refer to the Di- 
vine Being, the great catholic faith of the trinity in unity, and 
also the fall of man, original sin, the eternal duration of rewards 
and punishments, and other topics, the Methodists hold opinions 
in common Avith all orthodox Churches. Those doctrines which 
were made the subject of frequent conversation in the early Con- 
ferences and of discourse in their sermons, and about which 
opposition and controversy arose, pertained mainly to experi- 
mental religion, and might be characterized not as new, but 
as neglected or lost sight of. 

None were more offended at the Wesleys than their eldest 
brother. That High-churchman was scandalized at a clergyman 
preaching to "tatterdemalions on a common," and "never once 
reading the liturgy." In his anger he went so far as to wish 
that those "canting fellows," as he called the Moravians, "who 
talked of indwellings, experiences, and getting into Christ,'' had 
never obtained any followers. Late in the year 1738 Samuel 
AYesley wrote to his mother, complaining of the course of his 
tvv^o brothers, and especially denouncing their doctrine of assur- 



The Witness of the Spirit. 



131 



ance. Her letter in reply so far gratified liim and favored liis 
view as to take this ground: "If, upon a serious review of our 
state, we find tliat Id the tenor of our lives we have or do now 
sincerely desire and endeavor to perform the conditions of the 
gospel-covenant required on our parts, then we may discern that 
the Holy Spirit hath laid in our minds a good foundation of a 
strong, reasonable, and lively hope of God's mercy through 
Christ. This is the assurance we ought to aim at, which the 
apostle calls ' the full assurance of hope.' " Dr. A. Clarke re- 
marks upon this, as proof that her knowledge was " by no means 
clear and distinct" on the point. In the same letter she says: 

You have heard, I suppose, that Mr. Whitefield is taking a progress through 
these parts to make a collection for a house in Georgia for orphans and sucli of the 
natives' children as they will part with to learn our language and religion. He 
came hither to see me, and we talked about your brothers. I told him I did not 
like their way of living, wished them in some place of their own, wherein they 
might regularly preach, etc. He replied: "I could not conceive the good they did 
in London; that the greatest part of our clergy were asleep, and that there never 
Avas a greater need of itinerant ' preachers than now." I then asked Mr. White- 
field if my sons were not for making some innovations in the Church, which I 
much feared. He assured m^e they were so far from it that they endeavored all 
they could to reconcile Dissenters to our communion. 

As soon as she conversed with her sons, and heard them speak 
for themselves, Mrs. Wesley was convinced that their doctrine 
was both rational and scriptural; and she waited on their minis- 
try with delight and profit to the end of her life.* 

Six months after his conversion, John Wesley and his broth- 
er Charles waited upon Dr. Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London, 
to answer the complaints he had heard against them, to the ef- 
fect that they preached an absolute assurance of salvation. The 
two being introduced, Gibson said: "If by assurance you mean 
an inward persuasion, whereby a man is conscious in himself, 
after examining his life by the law of God, and weighing his own 
sincerity, that he is in a state of salvation, and acceptable to God, 
I do n't see how any good Christian can be without such assur- 
ance." The Wesleys meant more by "assurance" than this; 
but the doctrine, so far as it went, was one which they preached. 
The next point was the charge that they were Antinomians, be- 

* Samuel's last letter to his mother has this lament and protest: "It was with ex- 
ceeding concern and grief I heard you had countenanced a spreading delusion so far 
as to be one of Jack's congregation. Is it not enough that I am bereft of both my 
brothers, but must my mother follow too?" 



132 



ilistor)/ of Method ism. 



cause tliey preached justification by faith only. To this they 
replied: " Can any one preach otherwise who agrees with our 
Church and the Scriptures? " 

The first few years of Methodism were prolific of anti-Meth- 
odist literature. The clergy began to bestir themselves, and the 
war of pamphlets, expostulatory letters, and books, i^receded 
that of clubs and stones, which followed. Ticars, deans, curates, 
rectors, chaplains, and bishops issued forth with sermons and 
pastorals and tractates, abusing the Methodists, and warning 
the people against them, as "restless deceivers," "babblers," 
"novices in divinity," "teachers of absurd doctrines," "modern 
enthusiasts," " solifidians," "papists in disguise;" and things 
not only false, but monstrously false, are asserted of them. One 
of the most temperate productions was from a doctor of divinity, 
a royal chaplain, and preacher to the Honorable Society of Gray's 
Inn, who published "A Caution against Religious Delusion," in 
the shape of "a sermon on the New Birth; occasioned by the 
pretensions of the Methodists." They are charged with "vain 
and confident boastings," with "gathering tumultuous assem- 
blies to the distui'bance of the public peace, and with setting at 
naught all authority and rule," with "intruding into other men's 
labors, and encouraging abstinence, prayer, and other religious 
exercises, to the neglect of the duties of our station." Before 
the end of the year this sermon reached a sixth edition. Another 
sermon, on "The Doctrine of Assurance," by the chaplain to his 
royal highness, Frederick, Prince of Wales (with an appendix), 
was published (8vo, 39 pages), and had an extensive circulation. 
The preacher argues that assurance "is given to very few, and 
perhaps only to such whom God calls either to extraordinary- 
services or to extraordinary sufferings." He further argues that 
to profess to have received such an assurance savors of spiritual 
pride, and cannot but produce bad results. The Bishop of Lon- 
don published his "Pastoral Letter to the People of his Dio- 
cese; by way of Caution against Lukewarmness on one hand, 
and Enthusiasm on the other" (55 pages). Two-thirds of this 
pamphlet are leveled against the Methodists.* Thirteen days 
after the "Pastoral Letter" was published, Whitefield wrote an 
answer to it, and in a firm but respectful way replied to all the 
bishop's allegations. He concludes by charging Gibson with 



* The Life and Times of Eev. John Wesley, M.A. 



The Witness of the Spirit. 



133 



propagating a new gospel, because lie asserts that good works 
are a necessary condition of our being justified in tlie siglit of 
God." He maintains that faith is the only necessary condition, 
and that good icorks are the necessary fruit and consequence. 
"This," he writes, "is the doctrine of Jesus Christ; this is the 
doctrine of the Church of England; and it is because the gener- 
ality of the clergy of the Church of England do not preach this 
doctrine that I am resolved, God being my helper, to continue 
instant in season and out of season, to declare it unto all men, 
let the consequences as to me privately be what they will." 

Without losing time or temper in answering their accusers, 
the Methodist preachers kept on their way, urging upon small 
and great not only salvation by faith, but the witness of the 
Spirit. Susanna Wesley had long been a Christian woman; 
but this doctrine was one of which she had scarcely ever heard. 
At the age of seventy, and only three years before her death, she 
obtained the blessing for herself, and obtained it under the min- 
istry of her son-in-law. Wesley writes: 

September 3, 1739. I talked largely with my mother, who told me that, till a 
short time since, she had scarce heard such a thing mentioned as the having God's 
Spirit bearing witness with our spirit ; much less did she imagine that this was the 
common privilege of all true believers; "therefore," said she, "I never durst ask 
it for myself. But two or three weeks ago, v.-hile my son Hall was pronouncing 
those words, in delivering the cup to me, 'The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
which was given for thee,' the words struck into my heart, and I knew God, for 
Christ's sake, had forgiven me all my sins." I asked vrhether her father (Dr. 
Annesley) had not the same faith, and whether she had not heard him preach it to 
others. She answered: "Pie had it himself, and declared a little before his death 
that for more than forty years he had no darkness, no fear, no doubt at all, of his 
being accepted in the Beloved; but that, nevertheless, she did not remember to 
have heard him preach — no, not once — explicitly upon it ; whence she supposed 
he also looked upon it as the peculiar blessing of a few, not as promised to all the 
people of God." 

As taught by the founder of Methodism, the witness of the 

■^In confirmation is the following from a sermon published by Dr. Annesley, in 
1661: "There are believers of several growths in the Church of God: fathers, 
young men, children, and babes; and as in most families there are more babes and 
children than grown men, so in the Church of God there are more weak, doubting 
Christians than strong ones, grown up to a full assurance. A babe may be born 
and yet not know it ; so a man may be born again and not be sure of it. Some- 
times they think they have grounds of hope that they shall be saved; sometimes 
they think they have grounds of fear that they shall be condemned. Not know- 
ing which might be most weighty, like a pair of balances, they are in equipoise." 



134 



History of MetJiodism. 



Spirit was not the assurance of eternal salvation, as held by Cal- 
yinistic divines, bnt the assurance given by the Holy Spirit to 
penitent and believing persons that they are " noic accepted of 
God, pardoned, and adopted into God's family," It was a doc- 
trine, therefore, which invited to no relaxation of religious effort, 
and no irregularity of life; for, as the person who is now justi-- 
fied was once condemned, so, by falling into sin and unbelief, 
he may in future come again into condemnation. And further, 
as this justification, with its evidence, may be forfeited, so it may 
be recovered; "our backslidings " may be "healed," and the fa- 
vor of God be again restored. Few divines, says Richard Wat- 
son, have ever denied the possibility of our becoming assured of 
the favor of God in a sufficient degree to give substantial com- 
fort to the mind; since the more sincere and earnest a person is 
in the affair of his salvation, the more miserable he must be if 
there be no possibility of his being assiu'ed that the wrath of 
God no longer abideth upon him . " Their differences have rather 
respected the rneans by which the contrite become assured of that 
change in their relation to Almighty God, whom they have of- 
fended, which in Scripture is expressed by the term justifica- 
tion." The question has been. By what means is the assurance 
of Divine favor conveyed to the mind? Some have concluded 
that we obtain it by inference only; others, by the direct testi- 
mony of the Holy Spirit to the mind. Wesley held that both 
direct and indirect testimony were the privilege of believers. His 
]nost used and favorite text is: "The Spirit itself beareth wit- 
ness with our spirit, that we are the children of God " (Eom. viii. 
16); " on which he remarks: 

Xone Avho believe the Scriptures to be the "word of God can doubt the impor- 
tance of such a truth as this — a truth revealed therein not once only, not obscure- 
ly, not incidentally, but frequently, and that in express terms; but solemnly, and 
of set purpose, as denoting one of the peculiar privileges of the children of God. 
It more nearly concerns the Methodi.-ts. so called, clearly to understand, explain, 
and defend this doctrine, because it is one grand part of the testimony which God 
has given them to bear to all mankind. It is by his peculiar blessing upon theni 
in searching the Scriptures, confirmed by tlie experience of his children, that this 
great evangelical truth has been recovered, which had been for many years well- 
nigh lost and forgotten. 

Proceeding to expound "this joint testimony " y to the great 
fact that "we are the children of God," he shows what is this 



■^Sermons X., XI., XII. fXote the Greek verb cvuuaprvpei. 



The Witness of the Spirit. 



135 



witness or testimony of our spirit, and what is the testimony of 
God's Spirit. The foundation of the former is laid in those nu- 
merous texts of Scripture which describe the marks of the chil- 
dren of God. One may reason thus: First, the Scriptures say, 
by St. Paul, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God," into 
all holy tempers and actions, "they are the sons of God." Sec- 
ondly, I am thus "led by the Spirit of God." Thirdly, he easily 
concludes, "therefore I am a son of God." Again, by St. John: 
"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because 
we love the brethren." One examining himself says: I love 
Christians because they are Christians; I love the brethren; 
therefore, I " have passed from death unto life." Or, again, in 
this way: He that now loves God, that delights and rejoices in 
him with a humble joy, a holy peace, and an obedient love, is 
a child of God. But I thus love, delight, and rejoice in God; 
therefore, I am a child of God. The disciple is often and use- 
fully thus employed, searching and trying his ways and thoughts, 
and comparing his experience with the Bible standard. " Yet 
all this," says Wesley, " is no other than rational evidence, the 
witness of our spirit, our reason, or understanding. It all re- 
solves into this: Those having these marks are children of God; 
but we have these marks; therefore, we are children of God." 

Love, peace, gentleness, and other "fruit of the Spirit," 
may be found in the heart and life; also hatred of sin and jeal- 
ousy for God's honor, and strong desire for conformity to God's 
will. These are wrought by the self -same Holy Spirit in every 
one that hath them, but they are not to be confounded with His 
direct witness. A peculiarity of this " testimony of our spirit " 
is, that though yielding a degree of comfort and hope, it never 
rises to certainty. It is cumulative, but no accumulation of it 
amounts to full assurance. Probability is its result and doubt 
its companion. The humble-minded disciple is aware that the 
heart is deceitful and wicked, and may easily magnify what 
counts for, and extenuate what weighs against, its hope. Many 
discoveries are made in the hidden recesses of the soul, as well as 
in the outward life, that raise the painful question, Can all this 
consist with a gracious state ? Am I indeed a child of God ? 

"Now," continues Wesley, "this is properly the testimony of 
our own spirit." And he proceeds to give his most important 
definition: " But what is that testimony of God's Spirit which is 



136 



Hisfory of Mefliodism. 



superadded to and conjoined with this? How does He 'bear 
witness with our spirit, that we are chiklren of God?' It is hard 
to find words in the language of men to explain ' the deep things 
of God.' Indeed, there are none that will adequately express 
what the children of God experience. But perhaps one might 
say (desiring any who are taught of God to correct, to soften, or 
strengthen the expression) : The testimony of the Sx:)irit is an in- 
ward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God directly 
witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God; that Jesus Christ 
hath loyed me, and given himself for me; and that all my sins are 
blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to God." 

Twenty years afterward, preaching on the same subject, he re- 
peated this form of sound words: ''After twenty years' further 
consideration, I see no cause to retract any part of this. Is either 
do I conceive how any of these expressions may be altered, so as 
to make^them more intelligible. Meantime," he adds, "let it be 
observed, I do not mean hereby that the Spirit of God testifies 
this by any outward voice; no, nor always by an inward voice. 
But He so works upon the soul by his immediate influence, and 
by a strong though inexplicable o^Deration, that the stormy wind 
and ti'oubled waves subside, and there is a sweet calm; the heart 
resting as in the arms of Jesus, and the sinner being clearly sat- 
isfied that God is reconciled." 

Of this "meridian evidence," Wesley further si^eaks: "The 
manner how the diciiie testimony is manifested to the heart I do 
not take upon me to explain. Such knowledge is too wonderful 
and excellent for me; I cannot attain unto it. The wind bloweth, 
and I hear the sound thereof; but I cannot tell how it cometh, or 
whither it goeth. As no one knoweth the things of a man, save 
the spirit of a man that is in him, so the manner of the things of 
God knoAveth no one, save the Spirit of God. But the fact we 
know, namely, that the Spirit of God does give a believer such 
a testimony of his adoption that while it is present to the soul 
he can no more doubt the reality of his sonship than he can 
doubt of the shining of the sun while he stands in the full blaze 
of his beams." 

Wesley points out the error of those who, while admitting in 
words the testimony of the Holy Spirit, mean only the inferential 
evidence derived from the fruit of the Spirit; Avho, though speaking 
of joint witnesses, yet " swallow up " the testimony of both in one: 



The Witness of the Spirit. 



137 



But the point in question is, whether there be any direct testimony of the Spirit 
at all; whether there be any other testimony of the Spirit than that which arises 
from a consciousness of the fruit. 

I believe there is; because that is the plain, natural meaning of the text: ''The 
Spirit itself beareth witness with our sjoirit, that we are the children of God." It 
is manifest, here are two witnesses mentioned, who together testify the same thing; 
the Spirit of God, and our own spirit. The late Bishop of London, in his sermon 
on this text, seems astonished that any one can doubt of this, which appears ujDon 
the very face of the T>'ords. Now, "the testimony of our own spirit," says the 
bishop, "is one, which is the consciousness of our own sincerity;" or, to express 
the same thing a little more clearly, the consciousness of the fruit of the SjDirit. 
When our spirit is conscious of this — of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness — it easily infers from these premises that Ave are the children of God. 
Tt is true that the great man supposes the other witness to be " the conscious- 
ness of our own good works." This, he affirms, is the testimony of God's Spirit. 
But this is included in the testimony of our own spirit. 

A few extracts from tlie writings of tlie older divines may 
help to set forth the distinction and the doctrine : 

It is the office of the Tloly Ghost to assure us of the adoption of sons, to create 
in us a sense of the paternal love of God toward us, to give us an earnest of our 
everlasting inheritance. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the 
Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." "For as many as are led by the Siiirit of 
God are the sons of God." And "because we are sons, God hath sent forth the 
Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." "For we have not re- 
ceived the spirit of bondage again to fear; but we have received the Spirit of 
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with 
our spirit, that we are the children of God." As, therefore, we are born again by 
the Spirit, and receive from him our regeneration, so we are also assured by the 
same Spirit of our adoption. — Pearson on the Creed. 

The Spirit which God hath given us to assure us that we are the sons of God, 
to enable us to call upon him as our Father. — Hooker on Certainty of Faith. 

From Dr. Owen " On the Spirit " (Kom. viii. 16) : " ' The Spirit 
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the sons of 
God; ' the witness which our own spirits do give unto our adop- 
tion is the ivork and effect of the Holy Spirit in us; if it were 
not, it would be false, and not confirmed by the testimony of the 
Spirit himself, who is the Spirit of truth. 'And none knowetli 
the things of God but the Spirit of God.' (1 Cor. ii. 11.) If he 
declare not our sonship in us and to us, we cannot know it. How 
doth he then bear witness to our spirits? What is the distinct 
testimony? It must be some such act of his as evidenceth itself 
to be from him, immediateJij, unto them that are concerned in it — 
that is, those unto whom it is given." 



138 



History of Methodism. 



From Poole, "On Eomans" (viii. 16): " The Spirit of adoption 
doth not only excite us to call upon God as our Father, but it 
doth ascertain and assure us, as before, that we are his children. 
And this it doth not by an outward voice, as God the Father to 
Jesus Christ; nor by an angel, as to Daniel and the Virgin Mary; 
but by an inward and secret suggestion, whereby he raiseth our 
hearts to this persuasion, that God is our Father, and we are his 
children. This is not the testimony of the graces and operations 
of the Spirit, but of the Spirit itself." 

Having stated a vital truth, more at large and more clearly 'than 
others have done, Wesley turns attention to objections, and shows 
how this joint testimony of God's Spirit and our own may be 
distinguished from presumption and delusion. That fanatics 
can abuse it is not sufficient reason for "denying the gift of God, 
and giving up the great privilege of his children." Justification 
by faith, as taught by St. Paul, was objected to in his day as 
leading to licentiousness. Divine truth must not be surrendered 
or retired because human weakness or wickedness can pervert it. 

The direct witness is never referred to in the book of God as 
standing alone, but as connected with the other; as giving joint 
testimony — testifying with our spirit that we are children of God. 
The "tree is known by its fruit;" hereby we iwove if it be "of 
God." No man's v/ord can be taken for this inward witness 
whose outward life does not answer to the profession: 

By the j^resent marks may we easily distinguish a child of God from a pre- 
sumj^tuous self-deceiver. The Scriptures describe that joy in the Lord -which ac- 
companies the witness of his Spirit as a hiiml;le joy — a joy that abases to the dust, 
that makes a pardoned sinner cry out : " I am vile ! What am I, or my father's house ? 
Kow mine eye seeth thee, I abhor myself in dust and ashes!" And wherever 
lowliness is, there is meekness, patience, gentleness, long-suffering. There is a 
soft, yielding spirit — a mildness and sweetness, a tenderness of soul, which words 
cannot express. But do these fruits attend that supposed testimony of the Spirit 
in a presumptuous man? Just the reverse. The more confident he is of the favor 
of God, the more is he lifted up; the more does he exalt himself; the more haughty 
and assuming is his whole behavior. The stronger witness he imagines himself 
to have, the more overbearing is he to all around him; the more incapable of 
receiving any reproof; the more impatient of contradiction. Instead of being 
more meek and gentle and teachable, more ''swift to hear and slow to speak," 
he is more slow to hear and swift to speak. 

"French prophets," in Wesley's day, brought this doctrine of 
Divine assurance into discredit with some who did not consider 
its limitations. Later, " Millerite prophets " in America claimed 



The Witness of the Spirit. 



139 



this sanction for tlieir calculations and predictions that the world 
would come to an end on a certain day — noY/ past. Such preten- 
sions were unwarranted. This assurance is a joint testimony, and 
it is promised on only one subject, and that the most important 
in the world to every man — "Am I a child of God? " 

Keference is made to the test of experimental religion — " the 
experience of the children of God; the experience not of two or 
three, not of a fev/, but of a great multitude, which no man can 
number. It has been confirmed, both in this and in all ages, by 
'a cloud' of living and dying 'witnesses.' It is confirmed by 
ijoiir experience and mine,'' says Wesley. " The Spirit itself bore 
witness to my spirit, that I was a child of God, gave me an evi- 
dence hereof; and I immediately cried, 'Abba, Father!' And 
this I did (and so did you) before I reflected on, or was conscious 
of, any fruit of the Spirit." 

The application of this strong and comfortable doctrine, in 
such hands as John Wesley's, may be foreseen: 

To secure us from all delusion, God gives us two witnesses that we are liis chil- 
dren. And this they testify conjointly. Therefore, "what God hath joined to- 
gether, let not man put asunder." Beware, then, thou who art called by the name 
of Christ, that thou come not short of the mark of thy high calling. Beware 
thou rest not, either in a natural state, with too many that are accounted good 
Christians; or in a legal state, wherein those who are highly esteemed of men are 
generally content to live and die. Nay, but God hath prepared better things for 
thee, if thou follow on till thou attain. Thou art not called to fear and tremble, 
like devils; but to rejoice and love, like the angels of God. Well, then, mayest 
thou say, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!" Thanks be unto God, 
Avho giveth me to "know in whom I have believed;" who hath "sent forth the 
Spirit of his Son into my heart,, crying, Abba, Father," and even now, "bearing 
witness with my spirit, that I am a child of God!" And see that not only thy 
lips, but thy life, show forth his praise. 

To the material truth as set forth by Wesley — the direct testi- 
timony of the Spirit for every believer — all Methodists agree. 
As to an incidental or secondary point, whether or not this testi- 
mony always precedes the testimony of our own spirit in the new 
birth, there is not equal uniformity of opinion. Some expe- 
riences which Wesley himself has published, with implied if not 
express approval, can hardly be reconciled with the theory of the 
invariable precedence of the Spirit's testimony. The persons in 
question were doubtless real Christians — walking in the best light 
and comfort they had for months, it may be years, before receiv- 



140 



Hisfonj of Met hod (sm. 



ing tlie "meridian evidence.'' In tlie case of "sudden conyer- 
sions," undoubtedly the first notice is from above, before the soul 
has opportunity to perceive or reflect u^Don any fruit of the Spirit, 
in regeneration, as manifested in the realm of consciousness. 

There is such a witness, and all ma}" have it. After this fash- 
ion Wesley presses home the truth, in conclusion: 

Let none rest in any supposed fruit of the Spirit without the witness. There 
may be foretastes of joy, of peace, of love, and those not delusive, but really from 
God, long before we have the witness in ourselves — ^before the Spirit of God wit- 
nesses with our spirits that we have "redemption in the blood of Jesus, even the 
forgiveness of sins." Yea, there may be a degree of long-suffering, of gentleness, 
of fidelity, meekness, temperance (not a shadow thereof, but a real degree, by the 
preventing grace of God), before we ''are accepted in the Beloved," and conse- 
quently, before we have a testimony of our acceptance ; but it is by no means ad- 
visable to rest here; it is at the peril of our souls if Ave do. If we are wise, 
we shall be continually crying to God, until his Spirit cry in our heart, "Ab- 
ba, Father!" This is the privilege of all the children of God; and without 
this we can never be assured that we are his children. Without this we cannot 
retain a steady peace, nor avoid perplexing doubts and fears. But when we have 
once received this SjDirit of adoption, this "peace which passeth all understand- 
ing," and wliich expels all painful doubt and fear, will "keep our hearts and 
minds in Christ Jesus." And when this has brought forth its genuine fruit, all 
inward and outward holiness, it is undoubtedly the will of him that calleth us to 
give us always Avhat he has once given; so that there is no need that we should 
ever more be deprived of either tlie testimony of God's Spirit or the testimony 
of our own, the consciousness of our walking in all righteousness and true holiness. 

The great fact and force in the Methodist revival was the ex- 
perience and the x^reaching of this witness of the Spirit. Justi- 
fication by faith had been stated in the homilies and articles of 
the Church of England with the precision and frequency that 
might be expected concerning the dogma on which the Reforma- 
tion rested. Though lost sight of, and even opposed, it was there; 
and the first Methodists appealed to those standards. Not so 
with the doctrine of the Spirit's testimony. It was obscurely 
and inferentially supported from that quarter, while for obvious 
reasons Calvinistic dissent dealt with it feebly and infrequently. 
For if "once in grace always in grace " be true, then present as- 
surance becomes the assurance of eternal salvation; and conse- 
quences follow which practical morality hesitates to accept. It 
was for the Methodists, standing on the evangelical, Arminian 
platform, to proclaim the fact that the plan of redemption in its 
completeness made provision not only for the forgiveness of sin, 
but that men might know that their sins were forgiven. 



The Witness of the Spirit. 



141 



The effect upon the preachers was inspiring. Embassadors of 
God must be confident of their commission and of their message. 
They are empowered to comfort his people, and in snch a mes- 
sage there is comfort. The personal experience of evangelists 
must be clear: "We belieA^e, and therefore speak." Otherwise 
their preaching may be entertaining, instructiye, and, under great 
earnestness, even awakening; but the lament to the prophet of 
Israel is applicable to souls brought into salutary distress by such 
a ministry: " The children are come to the birth, and there is not 
strength to bring forth." 

After the personal experience of this docrine by Wesley and 
his co-laborers, their word was in power, sinners trembled, 
and great numbers were conyerted. " From this time," is the 
declaration of a leading Wesleyan, " they began properly to preach 
the gospel." They had labored with all their energy and abil- 
ity to establish the righteousness of the law, but neither knew 
nor preached the doctrines of the new covenant, and its comforts. 
Like all men destitute of x^ersonal and experimental faith and 
hope and joy in the Lord, they never thought of offering pardon 
and peace to the guilty through the alone merits of Jesus Christ; 
and nothing short of this is the gospel. 

What they had felt and seen with confidence they told, and men 
listened to them as men in danger and trouble ahvays will listen to 
those who show them the way of salvation. This vritness of the 
Spirit was the key-note of their ministry, the burden of their 
songs, and the secret of their success. The weary and heavy-laden 
were offered rest — rest for their souls. Those who had been taught 
that chronic doubt was a sort of Christian virtue heard gladly 
of a more excellent way. Happy converts testified and shouted. 
The joy of the Lord was their strength. The voice of praise was 
in their tabernacles. The fervor of their devotions and the zeal 
of their evangelism — while defying the worldly and stirring up 
the lukewarm — drew to Methodism the most earnest elements, 
and gave it a place Avith the foremost in the Church militant. 



CHAPTER XL 



Wesley Visits Herrnliut — Experiences of the Brethren — Wesley Eeturns to En- 
gland ; Begins his Life-work — Whitefield — The Pentecostal Season — Shut out 
of the Churches — The Messengers Let Loose — Field-preaching Inaugurated. 



EFOEE Wesley entered upon liis life-work, having no pre- 



I y conceived plan or course of conduct but to seek good for 
himself and to do good to others, he visited the Moravian settle- 
ments in Germany. He had met Moravians on his voyage to 
Georgia. At Savannah, Spangenberg was his first acquaintance. 
On his return to London he found Bohler. Naturally he wished 
to know more of this people; and three weeks after his conver- 
sion, accomi)anied by his friend Ligham, he set out on his jour- 
ney. Herrnliut, their chief settlement, most interested him and 
there he tarried longest. Talents and learning did not prevent 
him from feeling as " a babe " in Christ. Here he could con- 
verse with persons of matured Christian knowledge, who had 
made it their business and study to speak of divine things. Wes- 
ley availed himself of this privilege, and wrote down the sub- 
stance of what he was told of the religious experience of several 
of the most distinguished of these disciples of Christ. He took 
note of their discipline, and attended their love-feasts, confer- 
ences, and Bible expositions to great profit; though not approv- 
ing every thing he saw at this Jerusalem Church. 

Christian David, the carpenter, by whose preaching and pio- 
neering this colony had been founded, was happily at home, 
lately arrived from mission- work in Greenland. "Four times," 
says Wesley in his journal, " I enjoyed the blessing of hearing 
him preach, during the few days I spent here ; and every time he 
chose the very subject which I should have desired, had I spok- 
en to him before. Thrice he described the state of those who 
are 'weak in faith,' who have received forgiveness through the 
blood of Christ, but have not received the constant indAvelling of 
the Holy Ghost. This state he explained once from ' Blessed 
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;' 
when he showed at large, from various scriptures, that many are 
children of God and heirs of the promises, long before they are 




(142) 



Experiences of the Byethren. 



143 



comforted by the abiding witness of the Spirit, melting their 
souls into all gentleness and ' meekness.' " In a private conver- 
sation Christian David said that "for many years he had had 
the forgiveness of sins, and a measure of the peace of God, be- 
fore he had that witness of his Spirit which shuts out all doubt 
and fear." Another witness testified thus: 

Martin Dober, wlien I described my state to liim, said lie bad known very many 
believers who, if lie asked the question, would not have dared to affirm that they 
were the children of God. And he added: "It is very common for persons to re- 
ceive remission of sins, or justification through faith in the blood of Christ, before 
they receive the full assurance of faitli, which God many times withholds till he 
has tried whether they will work together with him in the use of the first gift. 
Nor is there any need (continued Dober) to incite any one to seek that assurance 
by telling him the faith he has is nothing. This will be more likely to drive him 
to despair than to encourage him to press forward. His single business, who has 
received the first gift, is credendo credere et in credendo perseverare (to believe on, 
and to hold fast that whereunto he hath attained) ; to go on doing his Lord's will, 
according to the ability God hath already given, cheerfully and faithfully to use 
what he has received." 

Wesley elicited the religious experience of Michael Linner, 
the oldest member of the Church, which was to the effect that 
Michael believed to the saving of his soul more than two years 
before he received the full assurance of faith ; though he admit- 
ted that " the leading of the Spirit is different in different souls. 
His more usual method is, to give in one and the same moment 
the forgiveness of sins and a full assurance of that forgiveness. 
Yet in many he works as he did in me — giving first the remis- 
sion of sins, and after some weeks, or months, or years, the full 
assurance of it." " This great truth was further confirmed to me,"__ 
says Wesley the next day, " by the conversation I had with David 
Nitschman, one of the teachers or pastors of the Church." The 
narrative of others was more of a Wesleyan kind, and confirmative 
of the view that when sins are forgiven the Spirit at the same 
moment gives the assurance of it. 

Wesley's characteristic fairness and his readiness to learn are 
seen in his giving at length experiences that differed circumstan- 
tially, though not substantially, from his own. Even now he be- 
gan to comprehend a principle which a few years later he enun- 
ciated and ever followed: "I trust we shall all suffer God to 
carry on his own v/ork in the way that pleaseth him." He was 
confirmed in the belief of that "meridian evidence that puts 



144 ' History of Methodism. 



doubt to flight." Sooner or later they all had it, and its effects 
in all were alike. 

The fourth sermon of Christian Dayid so impressed Wesley 
that he wrote it out, and we here present his draught, as it so 
well agrees with what he afterward uniformly taught: 

The word of reconciliation -wliicli the apostles preached as the foundation of all 
they taught was, that " we are reconciled to God, not by our own works, nor by 
our own righteousness, but wholly and solely by the blood of Christ." But you 
will say, Must I not grieve and mourn for my sins? Must I not humble myself 
before God? Is not this just and right? And must I not first do this before I can 
expect God to be reconciled to me? I answer: It is just and right. You must 
be humbled before God. You must have a broken and contrite heart. But then 
observe, this is not your own work. Do you grieve that you are a sinner? This 
is the work of the Holy Ghost. Are you contrite? Are you humbled before God? 
Do you indeed mourn, and is your heart broken within you? All this worketh 
the self-same Spirit. 

Observe again, this is not the foundation. It is not this by which you are jus- 
tified. This is not the righteousness, this is no part of the righteousness, by which 
you are reconciled unto God. You grieve for your sins. You are deeply humble. 
Your heart is broken. Well; but all this is nothing to your justification.* The 
remission of your sins is not owing to this cause, either in whole or in part. Your 
humiliation and contrition have no influence on that. Nay, observe further, that 
it may hinder your justification; that is, if you build any thing upon it; if you 
think "I must be so or so contrite. I must grieve more before I can be justified." 
Understand this well. To think you must be more contrite, more humble, ??jore 
grieved, more sensible of the weight of sin, before you can be justified, is to lay 
your contrition, your grief, your humiliation, for the foundation of your being jus- 
tified ; at least, for a part of the foundation. Therefore, it hinders your justifica- 
tion; and a hinderance it is which must be removed before you can lay the right 
foundation. The right foundation is not your contrition (though that is not your 
ov:n), not your righteousness, nothing of your oivn; nothing that is wrought in you 
by the Holy Ghost; but it is something icithout you, viz., the righteousness and the 
blood of Christ. For this is the word: "To liim that believeth on God that jus- 
tifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." See ye not that the 
foundation is nothing in us? There is no connection between God and tlie un- 
godly. There is no tie to unite them. They are altogether separate from each 
other. They have nothing in common. There is nothing less or more in the un- 
godly to join them to God. "Works, righteousness, contrition? No. Ungodli- 
ness only. This, then, do — if you will lay a right foundation — go straight to Christ 
with all your ungodliness. Tell him: Thou whose eyes are as a flame of fire, 
searching my heart, seest that I am ungodly. I plead nothing else. I do not say 
I am humble, or contrite, but I am ungodly; therefore, bring me to Him that jus- 
tifieth the ungodly. Let thy blood be the propitiation for me; for there is noth- 
ing in me but ungodliness. 



*"This is not guarded. These things do not merit our justification, but they are abso- 
lutely necessary in order to it. God never pardons the impenitent.— Wedeif's Journal. 



Wesley Begins his Life-tcorh. 



145 



Here is a mystery. Here the wise men of tlie world are lost, are taken in their 
own craftiness. This the learned of the wCrld cannot comprehend. It is foolish- 
ness mito them. Sin is the only thing which divides men from God. Sin (let 
him that lieareth understand) is the only thing which unites them to God ; that 
is, the only thing which moves the Lamb of God to have compassion upon them, 
and by his blood to give them access to the Father. This is the word of reconcil- 
iation which we preach. This is the foundation which never can be moved. By 
faith Ave are built upon this foundation; and this faith also is the gift of God. It 
is his free gift, which he now and ever giveth to every one that is willing to re- 
ceive it. And when they have received this gift of God, then their hearts will 
melt for sorrow that they have offended him. But this gift of God lives in the 
heart, not in the head. The faith of the head, learned from men or books, is 
nothing worth. It brings neither remission of sins nor peace v>'ith God. Labor, 
then, to believe with your whole heart; so shall you have redemption through the 
blood of Christ; so shall you be cleansed from all sin; so shall you go on from 
strength to strength; being renewed day by day in righteousness and all true holi- 
ness. 

The Oxford scholar, the learned Fellovf, sat at the feet of this 
plain but powerful man, who, when not engaged in preaching at 
home or planting missions abroad, worked at his bench — type of 
that generation of wise but unlearned preachers, unknown and 
yet well known, who were to be raised up by the Head of the 
Church, under Wesley's labors: John Nelson, the stone-mason; 
Samuel Bradburn, the shoe-maker; John Haime, the soldier; 
and Thomas Olivers, the cobbler — fit successors of the fishermen 
of Galilee ; by whom the saving truth of the gospel was delivered 
upon the mind and conscience of the people as they did not hear 
it at St. Paul's Cathedral or AYestminster Abbey. would 
gladly," says Wesley, "have spent my life here; but my Master 
calling me to labor in another part of his vineyard, I was con- 
strained to take my leave of this happy place. O when shall 
this Christianity cover the earth as 'the waters cover the sea! ' " 
He adds in another place: "I was exceedingly comforted and 
strengthened by the conversation of this lovely people, and re- 
turned to England more fully determined to spend my life in 
testifying the gospel of the grace of God." He arrived in Lon- 
don September 16, 1738, and immediately began to preach Christ 
as he had never done before. The following entry in his jour- 
nal shows the rate at which he started; and he kept it up for over 
a half century: 

Sunday, 17th, I began to declare again in my OAvn country the glad tidings of 
salvation, preaching three times, and afterward expounding the Holy Scriptures 
to a large company in the Minories. On Monday I rejoiced to meet our little 
10 



146 



Histonj of Mdlwdism. 



society. Avliicli now consisted of tliii-ty-two pei'sous. The next day I went to tlie 
condemned felons at Newgate, and offered tliem a free salvation. In" the evening 
I went to a society in Bear Yard, and preached repentance and remission of sins. 
The next evening I spoke the truth in love at a society in Aldersgate street, etc. 

So little ground is there for tlie insinuation, often made, that 
he early formed the scheme of making himself the head of a 
sect: " "Wesley seems to have had no plan beyond doing the duty 
that lay next to him. and waiting on Providence for the next step. 
He was free to duty. His fellowship supported him, and no- 
public collections or private contributions were needed. Watson 
says: *" If he had any plan at all at this time, beyond what cir- 
cumstances daily opened to him, and from which he might infer 
the x^ath of duty, it was to revive religion in the Church to which 
he belonged. "Wherever he was invited he ijreached the obsolete 
doctrine of salvation by grace through faith." In London great 
crowds followed him: the clergy generally excepted to his state- 
ment of the doctrine; the "genteel" part of his audiences v>-ere 
otYended at the bustle of crowded congregations: and soon almost 
all the churches of the metropolis, one after another, were shut 
against him. He had, however, largely labored in various parts 
of the metropolis in churches, rooms, houses, and prisons, and 
the effects produced were powerful and lasting. A month sub- 
sequent to his return, he wrote as follows to his Herrnhut friends: 

We are endeavoring here to be followers of you, as ye are of Christ. Fourteen 
have been added to us since our return, so that we have now eight bands, all of 
Avhoni seek k^r salvation only in the blood of Christ. . Though my brother and 
I are nor peniiined to preach in most of the churches in London, yet there are 
otliers leU. wlK rcin we have liberty to speak the tnnk as it is in Jesus. Xorhath 
lie left himself without other witnesses of his grace and truth. Ten ministers I 
know now in England who lay the right foundation — " the blood of Christ cleans- 
eth us from all sin." Over and above whom I have found one Anabaptist, and 
one, if not two, of the teachers among the Presbyterians here, who, I hope, love 
the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and teach the Avay of God in trtith. 

This shows that Wesley thought there were other clergymen 
besides himself who were evangelical, and also, though converted, 
that he still retained enough of his High-church prejudice to 
make a difference between Church of England " mhusters'^' and 
Presbyterian " teachers.'' 

In December Whitetield arrived in England from America. 
On hearing of his return, his friend hastened to London," and 
they again "took sweet counsel together," and encouraged each 



The Penfprosfnl Season. 



147 



other in the seryice of their common Master. TThitefield was 
not a little delighted to find a great increase of the wort of God, 
both as to light and love, doctrine and jjractice. He fonnd that 
those who had been awakened by his preaching a year ago had 

grown strong men in Christ, by the ministrations of his dear 
friends and fellow-laborers, John and Charles TTesley." The 
old doctrine, of justification by faith only, had been much re- 
Tived; and he ended the eventfnl year of 1733 by preaching and. 
expounding, diu'ing the last week of it, not fearer than twenty- 
seven times. But the churches closed up behind him. In three 
days five were denied him, and he too, like the Wesleys, resorted 
to the '" society-meetings," and their closer fellowship. 

Wesley describes a scene at one of these meetings reminding us 
of the Pentecostal baptism, by which the apostles were " endued 
with power from on high " for their mission. He says, January 
1, 1739, Messrs. Hutchins, Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitefiekl, 
and his brother Charles, were present with him at a love-feast 
in Fetter-lane, with sixty of the bretlrren. About three in the 
morning, as they were continuing instant in prayer, the power 
of God came mightily upon them, insomuch that many cried out 
for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as they 
had recovered a little from the awe and amazement which the 
presence of the Divine Majesty had inspired, they broke out 
with one voice: "We praise thee, O God! we acknowledge thee 
to be the Lord." Whitefield exclaims: "It was a Pentecostal 
season indeed!" And he adds, respecting these "society-meet- 
ings," that " sometimes whole nights were spent in prayer. Oft- 
en have we been filled as with new wine, and often have I seen 
them overwhelmed with the Divine Presence, and cry out, ' Will 
God indeed dwell with men upon earth? How dreadful is this 
place! This is no other than the house of God, and the gate of 
heaven ! ' " Januaiy 5, seven of the despised Methodist clergy- 
men (probably the seven just mentioned) held a conference at 
Islington, on several matters of great importance; and after 
prayer and fasting, "we parted," says Whitefield, "with a full 
conviction that God was going to do great things among us"' — a 
conviction which was soon verified. 

Incredible as it may seem, John Wesley, in that very church, 
a few days afterward solemnly and rather demonstratively re- 
baptized five Presbyterians, who had received Jay bajjfis/u in theii' 



148 



History of Methodism. 



infancy — that is, in the jargon of apostolic succession, they had 
been baptized by Dissenting ministers — possihJy by his own grand- 
father, Dr. Annesley! Charles, abont the same time, gave epis- 
copal baptism to a woman who was dissatisfied with her Jay bap- 
tism; denominating the ordinance " hypothetical baptism " — that 
is. Christian bax^tism, provided the former administration of the 
ordinance by a Dissenting minister were not in accordance w^ith 
the mind of God. To the discomfort of the archbishop, it was 
noised about that this Avas done by his special sanction. The 
thing was rendered unpopular just then by its connection with 
Methodism. The two brothers got a sharp lecture from his 
lordship). He strongly disapproved of their practice of rebap- 
tizing persons who had been baptized by Dissenters, and showed 
himself, in this respect, if not more liberal, at least better versed 
in ecclesiastical law and usage than the tv»^o honest and ardent 
young Methodists. More High-church nonsense! But the day 
of light and enlargement is at hand, and Wesley will come out 
of that. The habitual attitude of a man toward the truth is more 
decisive of character than any ox3inions he may happen to hold at 
a given time. If he is loyal to the truth, vrilling to know it and 
do it, the truth will make him free. St. Paul, for all such cases 
of prejudice and error, gives a solid ground for hopeful forbear- 
ance: "And if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall 
reveal even this unto you." 

Whitefield wished to take collections for his Orphan-house, 
but only two or three churches still remained at his command. 
Preaching in one of them with "great freedom of heart and 
clearness of voice," while nearly a thousand people stood outside 
the edifice, and hundreds went away for want of room, an idea 
occurred to him not included in the i)lan of the sermon. " This," 
he says, "put me first upon thinking of preaching without doors. 
I mentioned it to some friends, who looked upon it as a mad no- 
tion. However, we knelt down and prayed that nothing might be 
done rashly. Hear and answer, O Lord, for thy name's sake! " 

Shut out of the London churches, he set off to Bristol. Pop- 
ular as he had once been there, his Methodism now met the usual 
disfavor and result. The chancellor distinctly threatened that, 
if he continued to preach or expound in the diocese without 
license, he should first be suspended and then expelled. This 
was the turning-point. Shut out of the Bristol churches, he went, 



Shut Old of the Churches. 



149 



on February 17, and preaclied, in the open air, to two hundred 
colliers at Kingswood. This was a bold step — a shocking de- 
parture from Church rules and usages. The Eubicon was passed. 
A clergyman had dared to be so irregular as to preach in the 
open air! At the second Kingswood service, Whitefield says he 
had two thousand people to hear him; and at the third, four 
thousand; while, at the fifth service, the four thousand were in- 
creased to ten. He declares he never preached with greater power. 
Day after day, and from place to place, he preaclied to congrega- 
tions that no house could hold. March 18, his congregation at 
Eose Green was estimated at not less than twenty thousand, 
to whom he preached nearly an hour and a half. A gentle- 
man loaned him a large bowling-green in the heart of Bristol, 
and here he preached to seven or eight thousand people. All 
this transpired within six weeks, and at nearly all these strange 
and enormous gatherings Whitefield made a collection for his 
Orphan-house in Georgia. 

He took courage from the reflection that he was imitating the 
example of Christ, who had a mountain for his pulpit and the 
heavens for a sounding-board. "Blessed be God," he writes, 
" that the ice is now broke, and I have now taken the field. Some 
may censure me, but is there not a cause? Pulpits are denied, 
and the poor colliers are ready to perish for lack of knowledge." 

Kingswood was formerly a royal chase, containing between 
three and four thousand acres ; but it had been gradually appro- 
priated by the several lords whose estates encircled it. The deer 
had disappeared, and the greater part of the wood also; coal- 
mines had been discovered, and it was now inhabited by a race 
of people differing as much from those of the surrounding- 
country in dialect as in appearance. They had no place of wor- 
ship — for Kingswood was three miles distant from the parish 
church — and were famous for neither fearing God nor regarding 
man. Their condition was desperate. 

When the Wesleys and Mr. Whitefield first gave indications 
of an extraordinary zeal for the spread of religion, it was said 
to them: "If you wish to convert heathens, go to Kingswood." 
The challenge was accepted, and their success among this bru- 
tally ignorant and wicked people, for whose salvation no man 
cared, was an event of the greatest significance. It encouraged 
them to take hold of the worst cases and classes. None were 



150 



History of Methodism. 



henceforth considered beyond reach. The Lord thus increased 
the faith of the preachers; and also put an argument in the 
mouths of their friends, and a practical demonstration before the 
vv'orld of the saving and transforming power of the gospel, at the 
very outset of the Methodist revival. 

AVhitefield's marvelous powers as an orator found their full 
play in this new arena, and his poetic spirit felt the grandeur of 
the scene and its surroundings. The moral effect still more 
deeply impressed him. Having no righteousness of their own 
to trust in, the poor colliers were glad to hear that Christ was a 
friend to publicans, and came not to call the righteous, but sin- 
ners, to repentance. He could see the effect of his words by the 
white gutters made by the tears which trickled down their black- 
ened cheeks, for they came unvmshed out of the coal-pits to hear 
him. Hundreds of them were brought under deep religious im- 
pressions, which resulted in their happy conversion and thorough 
reformation. 

He wrote Wesley to come to his help. Other cities were to be 
visited by him, and he wished his old friend to be his successor 
at Bristol. Wesley hesitated, took counsel of his brother and 
friends, prayed over it, and went. Saturday, March 31, he reached 
Bristol, and met Whitefield. Referring to this interview, Wesley 
observes: "I could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this 
strange way of preaching in the fields, of which he set me an 
example on Sunday; having been all my life (till very lately) so 
tenacious of every point relating to decency and order that I 
should have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had 
not been done in a church." 

Wesley (still in a house) continues: "In the evening (Mr. 
Whitefield being gone) I began expounding our Lord's Sermon 
on the Mount (one pretty remarkable precedent of field-preach- 
ing, though I suppose there were churches at that time also) to 
a little society which vfas accustomed to meet once or twice a 
vveek in Nicholas street." 

Such were the prejudices and the hesitation of the man who, 
for between fifty and sixty years, proved himself the greatest field- 
preacher that ever lived. Monday, April 2d, at four in the aft- 
ernoon, he " submitted to be more vile," he says, and proclaimed 
in the open air the glad tidings of salvation, from a little emi- 
nence in a ground adjoining the city, to about three thousand 



Field-preacli ing Inaugurated. 



151 



people. His text befitted the occasion: "The Spirit of the Lord 
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to 
the poor. He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted; to 
preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to 
the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to proclaim 
the accejjtable year of the Lord." In a few days more, he was 
standing on the top of Hannam Mount, in Kingswood, pro- 
claiming: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; 
yea, come, buy wdne and milk without money and v^ithout 
price! " and in the afternoon of that same day he again stood up 
amid five thousand, and cried, " If any man thirst, let him come 
unto me and drink! " 

Whitefield, committing his outdoor congregations to Wesley, 
left for Wales to work on the same line of things. As he passed 
through Kingswood, the colliers stopped him; they had prepared 
an "entertainment " for him, and offered subscriptions for a char- 
ity school to be established among them. Laying, at their re- 
quest, a corner-stone for the building, he knelt down on the 
ground and prayed that the gates of hell might not prevail against 
it; to which rough voices responded "Amen." 

With the exception of brief visits to London in June, Septem- 
ber, and November, and of a short tour into Wales, Wesley spent 
from April to the end of 1739 in Bristol and its neighborhood, 
and delivered about five hundred discourses and expositions 
in the nine months, only eight of which were in "consecrated 
places." His loreaching plan was as follovrs: An exposition to one 
or other of the Bristol societies every night, and preaching every 
Sunday morning, and every Monday and Saturday afternoon. 
At Kings vvood (including Hannam Mount, Eose Green, and Two 
Mile Hill), he preached tw^ice every Sabbath, and also every al- 
ternate Tuesday and Friday. At Baptist Mills (a suburb of Bris- 
tol), he preached every Friday; at Bath, once a fortnight, on Tues- 
day ; and at Pensf ord, once a fortnight, on Thursday. Besides 
this, every morning he read prayers and preached at the prison. 

When his brother returned from Herrnhut, Charles Wesley 
met him with great joy in London, and they "compared their 
experience in the things of God." He now first began to preach 
extempore. Islington w^as one of the few London churches which 
had a rector in sympathy wdth Methodism, and Charles accepted 
a curacy under him. But the church-wardens, with the counte- 



152 



History of Methodism. 



nance of the bishop, soon ousted him, and he was thrown, without 
knowing why, into the current of great events. Protesting against 
the intolerance of man, by copying the example of man's Re- 
deemer, he too went forth into the fields calling sinners to re- 
pentance. Little did Charles dream what was before him, when 
he made this entry in his journal: "March 28th. We strove to 
dissuade my brother from going to Bristol, to which he was press- 
ingly invited, from an unaccountable fear that it would prove 
fatal to him. He offered himself willingly to whatever the Lord 
should appoint. The next day he set out, recommended by us 
to the grace of God. He left a blessing behind him. I desired 
to die with him." 

His holding forth in society-meetings and in private houses, 
and his irregular way of saving souls, could not long escape 
notice. Whilst John Wesley was still at Bristol, Charles had a 
painful interview at Lambeth with the archbishop. His grace 
took no exceptions to his doctrine, but condemned the irregular- 
ity of his proceedings, and even hinted at excommunication. 
This threw him into great perplexity of mind, until Whitefield, 
with characteristic boldness, urged him to preach " in the fields 
the next Sunday; by which step he would break down the bridge, 
render his retreat difficult or impossible, and be forced to fight 
his way forward." This advice was followed. He writes: 

June 24tli, I prayed and went forth in the name of Jesus Christ. I found near 
a thousand helpless sinners waiting for the word in Moorfields. I invited them in 
my Master's words, as well as name: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are 
heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." The Lord w^as with me, even me, the 
meanest of his messengers, according to his promise. At St. Paul's, the psalms, 
lessons, etc., for the day, put new life into me; and so did the sacrament. My load 
was gone, and all my doubts and scruples. God shone on my path, and I knew 
this was his will concerning me. I walked to Kennington Common, and cried to 
multitudes upon multitudes: ''Repent ye, and believe the gospel." The Lord was 
my strength, and my mouth, and my wisdom. O that all would therefore praise 
the Lord for his goodness ! 

At Oxford, the dean rebuked and threatened him for his field- 
preaching; but he seized the opportunity of bearing his testi- 
mony to justification by faith, preaching with great boldness be- 
fore the university. On his return to London, he resumed field- 
preaching in Moorfields, and on Kennington Common. At one 
time it was computed that as many as ten thousand persons were 
collected, and great numbers were roused to a serious inquiry 



Field-preaching Inaugurated. 



153 



after religion. His word was occasionally attended with an over- 
whelming influence. 

The three great preachers are now liberated. Thanks to big- 
otry ! God overrules the wrath of man. These things shall turn 
out for the furtherance of the gospel. " It was by field-preach- 
ing," remarks a thoughtful critic of the movement then dating, 
" and in no other possible way, that England could be roused from 
its spiritual slumber, or Methodism spread over the country, and 
rooted where it spread. The men who commenced and achieved 
this arduous service — and they were scholars and gentlemen — dis- 
played a courage far surpassing that which carries the soldier 
through the hail-storm of the battle-field. Ten thousand might 
more easily be found who would confront a battery than two 
who, with the sensitiveness of education about them, could mount 
a table by the road-side, give out a losalm, and gather a mob." 

" The field-preaching of Wesley and Whitefield, in 1739," says 
Isaac Taylor, "was the event whence the religious epoch, now 
current, must date its commencement. Back to the events of 
that time must we look, necessarily, as often as we seek to trace 
to its source what is most characteristic of the present time." 



CHAPTER XII. 



Difficulties and Triumphs of Field-preachers — Bodily Agitations : How Accounted 
for — Active Enemies — Lukewarm Friends — The Word Prevails. 

'^VTO wonder Methodists were "made a gazing stock." Their 
-.^^ style of preaching and their doctrine were noveL " Being 
convinced," writes Wesley, " of that important truth which is the 
foundation of all real religion, that 'by grace we are saved 
through faith,' we immediately began declaring it to others. In- 
deed, we could hardly speak of any thing else, either in public 
or private. It shone upon our minds with so strong a light that 
it was our constant theme. It was our daily subject, both in 
verse and prose ; and we vehemently defended it against all man- 
kind. But in doing this, we were assaulted and abused on every 
side. We were stoned in the streets, and several times narrowly 
escaped with our lives. In sermons, newspapers, and pamphlets 
of all kinds, we were painted as unheard-of monsters." Hutton's 
Memoirs gives a lively description: 

In the year 1739 open-air preaching commenced in England; for the clergy had 
closed all their churches against the Methodists, and the Bishop of London (Dr. 
Edmund Gibson) had inhibited any Methodist preacher from becoming an assist- 
ant (adjunct) at Islington Church. Both bishop and clergy remained steadfast in 
their determination to eradicate Methodism, witli its advocates, from their joulpits. 
The congregations which flocked to the open-air preaching were composed of every 
description of persons from all parts of the town, who without the slightest at- 
tempt at order assembled, crying "Hurrah!" with one breath, and with the next bel- 
lowing and bursting into tears on account of their sins; some poking each other's 
ribs, laughing, and throwing stones and dirt, and almost pressing one another to 
death ; others joyously shouting " Plalleluiah;" etc. In fact, it was a jumble of ex- 
tremes of good and evil; and so distracted alike were both preachers and hearers, 
that it was enough to make one cry to God for his interference. After awhile 
matters proceeded less disorderly, a tolerable silence prevailed, and many present, 
who had come prepared to hurl stones at the preacher, received something in their 
hearts for time and eternity. Here thieves, prostitutes, fools, people of every class, 
several men of distinction, a few of the learned, merchants, and numbers of poor 
people who had never entered a place of worship, assembled in these crowds and 
became godly. 

The messengers of salvation who go into the highways and 
hedges seeking lost souls, must take people as they find them. 

(154) 



Difficulties and Triumphs of Field-preachers. 155 



That was doubtless a disorderly multitude which heard the words, 
"How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, 
follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." The congregation that 
flocked to the sea-side, "without the slightest attempt at order," 
were privileged to hear the original of the Parable of the Sower. 
The multitude to whom the Sermon on the Mount was addressed 
was not select. When the Master looked upon these masses of 
human beings — restless, unhappy, ignorant — he w^as " moved with 
compassion" for them as sheep having no shepherd. Similar 
feelings become his servants. ^Esthetic taste must be held in 
abeyance, and clerical dignity stand aside; the pjeople must be 
reached and subdued to the gospel ; and Methodism, by its birth 
and baptism, is pledged to this work. The author of Hutton's 
Memoirs was a Moravian, of social culture, affecting " stillness; " 
he delighted to instruct, and was capable of instructing, the choice 
spirits that could be gathered into a " society-room," or the par- 
lor on "College street, Westminster," or the cosy office of his 
book-store. An agency is wanted that is bolder and more ag- 
gressive; for the world will never be reached and converted at 
that rate. "Multitudes" must be added to the Church daily. 
The acute observer before quoted remarks : 

Witliin tlie Moravian circle, the prevailing force is centripetal; within the Wes- 
leyan, it is centrifugal. The Church of the Brethren has conserved within its 
small inclcsures an idea of what was imagined to he pristine Christianity; and it 
has moored itself, here and there, in sheltered nooks of the world, amid the wide 
waters of general impiety or formality; but no such tranquil witness-bearing to 
primitive principles could have satisfied Wesley's evangelical zeal; and the Meth- 
odism which he framed was an invasive encampment upon the field of the world."^ 

While enemies w^ere ready to revile, those who ought to have 
been friends were cautious in their indorsement. Even the good 
Dr. Doddridge wrote (May 24, 1739) : " I think the Methodists sin- 
cere; I hope some may be reformed, instructed, and made serious 
by their means. I saw Mr. Whitefield preaching on Kennington 
Common last week to an attentive multitude, and heard much of 
him at Bath; but, supposing him sincere and in good earnest, I 
still fancy that he is but a trecik man — much too positive, says 
rash things, and is bold and enthusiastic. I am most heartily 
glad to hear that any real good is done anywhere to the souls of 
men," etc. Now and then a more outspoken Christian man ap- 



^' Wesley and Methodism. 



156 



Hi story of Metliodism. 



peared. Joseph Williams, of Kidderminster, had in him the 
savor or Eichard Baxter. Under the date of September 17, he 
writes, concerning the tAVO Wesleys, Whitefield, and Ingham: 
" The common people flock to hear them, and in most places 
hear them gladly. They commonly preach once or twice every 
day, and expound the Scriptures in the evening to religious so- 
cieties, who have their society-rooms for that purpose." Charles 
at this time visited his brother at Bristol, and it so happens 
that the manner of his preaching is described by Williams, 
whom curiosity and a religious temj^er led to hear him in a field 
near the city: 

I found liim standing on a table-board, in an erect posture, with liis bands and 
ejes lifted up to heaven in prayer. He prayed with uncommon fervor, fluency, 
and variety of proper expressions. He then preached about an hour in such a 
manner as I scarce ever heard any man preach. Though I have heard many a 
finer sermon, according to the common taste or acceptation of sermons, I never 
heard any man discover such evident signs of a vehement desire, or labor so 
earnestly to convince his hearers that they were all by nature in a sinful, lost, un- 
done state. He showed how great a change faith in Christ would produce in 
the whole man, and that every man who is in Christ — that is, who believes in him 
unto salvation — is a new creature. IS'or did he fail to press how ineffectual their 
faith would be to justify them, unless it wrought by love, purified their hearts, and 
was productive of good works. AVith uncommon fervor he acquitted himself as 
an embassador of Christ, beseeching them in his name, and praying them in his 
stead, to be reconciled to God. And although he used no notes, nor had any thing 
in his hands but a Bible, yet he delivered his thoughts in a rich, copious variety 
of expression, and with so much propriety that I could not observe any thing in- 
coherent or inanimate through tlie whole performance, which he concluded with 
singing, prayer, and the usual benediction. 

In the evening the same competent and appreciative hearer ac- 
companied Wesley to the society-meeting. The whole service 
took up nearly two hours; "but never, sure," says Williams, 
did I hear such praying, never did I see or hear such evident 
marks of fervency in the service of God. At the close of every 
petition, a serious Amen, like a gentle rushing sound of waters, 
ran through the whole audience with such a solemn air as quite 
distinguished it from whatever of that nature I have heard at- 
tending the res]3onses in the Church-service. If there be such a 
thing as heavenly music upon earth, I heard it there." Such a 
testimony, from a man so devout and justly famed as " the Kid- 
derminster carpet-weaver," is quite as trustworthy as any of an 
opposite character from either Bishop Gibson or any priest then 



Wesley and "Beau Xash:' 



157 



dozing on the walls of Zion, or from Doddridge, or otlier learned 
preachers of Dissent then dying of respectability. 

Field-preacliing called into action other qualities besides the 
power to speak. The annoyances were infinite until the cause liad 
triumphed. Missiles of stones and brickbats Avere not tlie greatest 
hinderances. Sometimes a furious ox was let loose into the crowd ; 
or recruiting officers, with drum and fife, would pass through; or 
a mob of lew^d fellow^s of the baser sort, fired with w^hisky, and 
led on by the "parson," with the watch-word "Fight for the 
Church," w^ould intrude. On one occasion, John Wesley having 
taken his stand in the open air to preach, two men, hired for the 
purpose, began to sing ballads. Wesley and his friends met this 
by singing a psalm, thus drowning one noise wdth another. 

At Bath he encountered a politer difficulty. "Beau Nash," 
master of ceremonies at that fashionable resort — he w'ho pre- 
scribed ball-dresses for ladies and gentlemen, and the number of 
dances to be danced — gave out that on Wesley's next " appoint- 
ment " there should be some fun: the accomplished rake and 
gamester meant to make sport of the preacher and stop him. 
"By this report," says Wesley, "I gained a much larger audi- 
ence, among whom were many of the rich and great. I told them 
plainly the Scripture had concluded them all under sin; high 
and low, rich and poor, one with another. Many of them seemed 
to be a little surprised, and were sinking apace into seriousness," 
when the "Beau," in his immense white hat, appeared, and 
asked by wdiat authority he dared to do what he was doing. 
Wesley replied: "By the authority of Jesus Christ, conveyed to 
me by him who is now Archbishop of Canterbury, wdien he laid 
his hands upon me and said, ' Take thou authority to preach the 
gospel.'" "But this," said Nash, "is a conventicle, and contra- 
ry to act of parliament." "No," answered Wesley; "conventi- 
cles are seditious meetings, but here is no sedition; therefore, it 
is not contrary to act of parliament." "I say it is!" cried the 
hero of Bath; " and besides, your preaching frightens people out 
of their wats." "Sir," said Wesley, "did you ever hear me 
preach? " " No." " How^, then, can you judge of what you never 
heard? " " I judge," he answ^ered, " by common report." " Com- 
mon report," replied Wesley, "is not enough. Give me leave 
to ask you, sir, is not your name Nash?" "It is," said he. 
" Sir," retorted Wesley, " I dare not judge of you by common 



158 



History of Methodism. 



report." The master of ceremonies was Y\^orsted; upon which an 
old woman begged Wesley to allow Iter to answer him; and, amid 
her tannts, the resplendent master of ceremonies sneaked away. 
"As I returned," says Wesley, " the street was full of people hur- 
rying to and fro, and speaking great words; but when any of 
them asked, ' Which is he? ' and I replied, ' I am he,' they were 
im_mediately silent." 

Whitefield called preaching in Moorfields " attacking Satan in 
one of his strongholds;" and this he did on Sundays when in 
London. Once the table which had been placed for him was 
broken in pieces by the crowd. He took his stand, therefore, 
upon a wall which divided the upper and lower Moorfields, and 
preached without interruption. His favorite ground upon week- 
days was Kennington Common, and there prodigious m.ultitudes 
gathered together to hear him. • He had sometimes fourscore 
carriages, very many horsemen, and from thirty to forty thou- 
sand persons on foot; and both there and in Moorfields, on his 
Sunday preachings, when he collected for the Orphan-house, so 
many half-pence were given him by his poor auditors that he 
was wearied in receiving them, and they were more than one man 
could carry home. John AVesley had not yet faced a London 
outdoor congregation. On a brief visit to the metropolis he 
found Whitefield triumphing gloriously, and on the day after his 
arrival accompanied him to Blackheath, expecting to hear him 
preach. When they were upon the ground, where about twelve 
or fourteen thousand persons were assembled, Whitefield desired 
him to i^reacli in his stead. Wesley was reluctant; nature re- 
coiled, but he did not refuse. He says : "I preached on my favor- 
ite subject — 'Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, 
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.' I was greatly 
moved with compassion for the rich that v/ere there, to wdiom I 
made a particular ax)plication. Some of them seemed to attend, 
while others drove away in their coaches from so uncouth a preach- 
er." Yvhitefield, in his journal, says: " I had the pleasure of in- 
troducing my honored and reverend friend, Mr. John Wesley, to 
preach at Blackheath. The Lord give him ten thousand times 
more success than he has given me! I went to bed rejoicing that 
another fresh inroad was made into Satan's territories by Mr. 
AVesley's following me in field-preaching in London as well as in 
Bristol." 



''Signs'' Attending Wesley's Preaching. 159 



It is a noteworthy circumstance that though the preaching o£ 
Charles Wesley and of Whitefielcl was as faithful as that of John 
Wesley, and far more impassioned, yet no such " signs " attend- 
ed their ministry as were attendant on his. Such items as these 
are found in his journal (1739) : 

May 1. Many were offended again, and indeed much more than before. Of 
those who had been long in darkness, ten persons, I afterward found, then began 
to say in faith, " My Lord and my God." A Quaker who stood by was not a lit- 
tle displeased at the dissimulation of those creatures, and Avas biting his lips and 
knitting his brows, Avhen he dropped down as thunderstruck. The agony he was 
in was even terrible to behold. 

May 21. Perliaps it might be because of the hardness of our hearts, imready to 
receive any thing unless v.^e see it with our eyes and hear it with our ears, that 
God, in tender condescension to our weakness, suffered so many outward signs at 
the very time when he wrought this inward change, to be continually seen and 
heard among us. But although they saw "signs and wonders" (for so I must 
term them), yet many would not believe. They could not indeed deny the facts, 
but they could explain them away. Some said : " These were purely natural effects ; 
the people fainted away only because of the heat and closeness of the rooms;" 
and others were "sure it was all a cheat; they might help it if they would; else, 
why were these things only in their private societies? why were they not done in 
the face of the sun?" To-day our Lord answered for himself — for, while I was 
enforcing these words, "Be still, and know that I am God," he began to make 
bare his arm — not in a close room, neither in private, but in the open air, and be- 
fore more than two thousand witnesses. One, and another, and another, was struck 
to the earth, exceedingly trembling at the presence of his power; others cried, 
with a loud and bitter cry, "What must we do to be saved?" And in less than 
an hour seven persons, wholly unknown to me till that time, were rejoicing and 
singing, and with all their might giving thanks to the God of their salvation. In 
the evening I went on to declare what God had already done, in proof of that im- 
portant truth that he is " not willing that amj should perish, but that all should 
come to repentance." Another person dropped down, close to one who was a 
strong asserter of the contrary doctrine. While he stood astonished at the sight, 
a little boy near him was seized in the same manner. A young man who stood 
up behind fixed his eyes on him, and sunk down himself ias one dead, but soon be- 
gan to roar out, and beat himself against the ground, so that six men could scarce- 
ly hold him. His name was Thomas Maxfield. Except J n H n, I never 

saw one so torn of the evil one. I was called from supper to one who, feeling in 
herself such a conviction as she never had knoAvn before, had run out of the soci- 
ety in all haste that she might not expose herself. But the hand of God followed 
her still ; so that after going a few steps, she was forced to be carried home ; and 
when she was there, grew worse and worse. She Avas in a violent agony Avhen we 
came. We called upon God, and her soul found rest. I think twenty-nine in all 
had their heaviness turned into joy this day. 



Maxfield will be heard from again. The case of John Haydon, 



160 



History of Methodism. 



referred to, occurred a few weeks before, and is told in the jour- 
nal of May 2 : 

He was a man of a regular life, one that constantly attended the public prayers 
and sacrament, and was zealous for the Church, and against dissenters of every de- 
nomination. Being informed that people fell into strange fits at the societies, he 
came to see and judge for himself But he was less satisfied than before; inso- 
much that he went about to his acquaintance, one after another, till one in the 
morning, and labored above measure to convince them it was a delusion of the 
devil. We were going home, when one met us in the street and informed us that 

J n H n was fallen raving mad. It seems he had sat down to dinner, but 

had a mind first to end a sermon he had borrowed, on "Salvation by Faith." In 
reading the last page, he changed color, fell off his chair, and began screaming 
terribly, and beating himself against the ground. The neighbors were alarmed, 
and flocked together to the house. Between one and two I came in and found him 
on the floor, the room being full of people, whom his wife would have kept with- 
out, but he cried aloud: "No! let them all come; let all the world see the just 
judgment of God!" Two or three men were holding him as well as they could. 
"Ay, this is he who I said was a deceiver of the people. But God has overtaken 
me. I said it was all a delusion, but this is no delusion." We all betook our- 
selves to prayer. His pangs ceased, and both his body and soul were set at liberty. 

. . . Eeturning to J n H n, we found his voice was lost, and his body 

weak as that of an infant; but his soul was in peace, full of love, and " rejoicing in 
hope of the glory of God," 

Whitefield heard of these things, and was not pleased; for, as 
usual, gross misrepresentations had gone out. He visited Bris- 
tol, and Wesley writes: " But next day he had an opportunity of 
informing himself better; for, in the application of his sermon, 
four persons sunk down close to him, almost in the same moment. 
One of them lay without either sense or motion; a second trem- 
bled exceedingly; the third had strong convulsions all over his 
body, but made no noise, unless by groans; the fourth, equally 
convulsed, called upon God with strong cries and tears. From 
this time, I trust, we shall all suffer God to carr}^ on his own 
work in the way that pleaseth him." Whitefield was silenced, if 
not satisfied. If it was so in England, we shall see greater things 
than these in America when the masses are reached by camp- 
meetings and field-preachers of the old Methodist type. There 
was much reasoning about these physical exercises in connection 
with spiritual. Men of the world discoursed flippantly of fanat- 
icism, enthusiasm, zoo-mesmerism, and suchlike, always to the dis- 
credit of the ministry under which these things occur; the pious 
patterns of order and stillness were scandalized, and fools mocked. 
The words of Bichard AYatson are commended to them all: 



Corporeal mid Mental Emotions. 



161 



The extraordinary manner in which some persons were frequently affected un- 
der Mr. Wesley's preaching as well as that of his coadjutors, noAv created much 
discussion, and to many gave much offense. Some were seized with trembling; 
others sunk down, and uttered loud and piercing cries; others fell into a kind of 
agony. In some instances, whilst prayer was offered for them, they rose up with 
a sudden change of feeling, testifying that they had "redemption through the 
blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins," Mr. Samuel Wesley, who denied 
the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins, treated these things, in a correspondence 
with his brother, alternately with sarcasm and serious severity, and particularly 
attacked the doctrine of assurance. In this controversy Mr. John Wesley attaches 
no Aveight whatever to these outward agitations, but contends that he is bound to 
believe the profession made by many who had been so affected, of an inward 
change, because that had been confirmed by their subsequent conduct and spirit."^ 

Wesley unquestionably belieA'ed in special effusions of the in- 
fluence of the Holy Spirit upon congregations and individuals, 
producing powerful emotions of mind, expressed in some in- 
stances by bodily affections; and there is the best authority — the 
Bible — for this belief. Jonathan Ed^yards, after the great awak- 
ening in his day, and mostly under his ministry, had to defend 
himself and his coadjutors, and the work itself, in a learned trea- 
tise on the subject of "Surprising Conversions." Watson con- 
tinues: 

That cases of real enthusiasm occurred, at this and subsequent periods, is indeed 
allowed. There are always nervous, dreamy, and excitable people to be found; 
and the emotion which was produced among those who were really so " pricked 
in the heart " as to cry with a sincerity equal to that which was felt by those of 
old, "What shall we do to be saved?" would often be communicated to such per- 
sons by natural sympathy. No one could be blamed for this unless he liad en- 
couraged the excitement for its own sake, or taught the people to regard it as a 
sign of grace, which most assuredly Mr. Wesley never did. jS"or is it correct to 
represent these effects, genuine and factitious together, as peculiar to Methodism. 
A great impression was made by the preaching of the Wesleys and Mr. Whitefield 
in almost all places where they went. Thousands in the course of a few years, 
and of those too who had lived in the greatest unconcern as to spiritual things, 
and were most ignorant and depraved in their habits, were recovered from their 
vices, and the moral appearance of whole neighborhoods was changed. Yet the 
effects were not without precedent, even in those circumstances in which they have 
been thought most singular and exceptionable. Great and rapid results of this 
kind were produced in the first ages of Christianity, but not without " outcries," 
and strong corporeal as Avell as mental emotions — nay, and extravagances too. 
Such objectors might have knoAvn that like effects often accompanied the preach- 
ing of eminent men at the Eeformation, and that many of the Puritan and Non- 
conformist ministers had similar successes in large districts in our OAvn country. 



11 



Watson's Life of Wesley. 



162 



History of MetJwdism. 



They might have known that in Scotland, and also among the grave Presbyteri- 
ans of Is ew England, previous to the rise of Methodism, such impressions had not 
unfrequently been produced by tlie ministry of faithful men. It may be laid down 
as a principle established by fact that whenever a zealous and faithful ministry is 
raised up, after a long spiritual dearth, the early effects of that ministry are not 
only powerful, but often attended with extraordinary circumstances; nor are such 
extraordinary circumstances necessarily extravagances because they are not com- 
mon. It is neither irrational nor unscriptural to suppose that times of great na- 
tional darkness and depravity should require a strong remedy, and that the atten- 
tion of the people should be roused by circumstances which could not fail to be 
noticed by the most unthinking. We do not attach primary importance to second- 
ary circumstances, but they are not to be wholly disregarded. The Lord was not 
in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice ; 
yet that still small voice might not have been heard, except by minds roused 
from their inattention by the shaking of the eartli and the sounding of the storm. 

But even the liturgy aud the ministry of the objectors pray 
for a measure of Divine influence, a degree of spiritual power, 
to bless the word preached, and to open the ears and hearts of 
the people, inclining them to keep God's law. On this ground — 
the lowest any can take and be called orthodox — Watson answers: 
" If, however, no special and peculiar efl'usion of Divine influ- 
ence on the minds of many o£ Mr. Wesley's hearers be supposed; 
if we only assume the exertion of that ordinary influence which 
must accompany the labors of every minister of Christ to render 
them successful in saving men — the strong emotions often pro- 
duced by the preaching of the founder of Methodism might be 
accounted for on principles very different from those adopted by 
many objectors. The multitudes to whom he preached were gen- 
erally grossly ignorant of the gospel, and he poured upon their 
minds a flood of light; his discourses were plain, pointed, ear- 
nest, and affectionate; the feeling produced was deep, piercing, 
and, in numberless cases, such as we have no right, if we believe 
the Bible, to attribute to any other cause than that inward oper- 
ation of God with his truth which alone can render human 
means effectual." 

A Yorkshire mason, John Nelson, came up to London, work- 
ing at his trade. His labor amply supported him, and he and 
his Avife lived, he says, " in a good way, as the world calls it — that 
is, in peace and plenty, and love to each other." Though he had 
experienced neither sorrow nor misfortune of any kind, still he 
thought that rather than live thirty years more like the thirty 
which had passed, he would choose to be strangled. The fear of 



Conversion of the Yorkshire Mason. 



163 



judgment made him wish that he had never been born. The 
Established Church not meeting his case, he heard the Dissent- 
ers of various sorts, went to the Roman Catholics, and even at- 
tended Quakers' meetings: all to no purpose. As for the Jews, 
he thought it was useless to try them. He was settling down into 
a desperate state. At this time Whitefield preached outdoors, and 
he heard him, but was no better. " I loved the man," says Nel- 
son, " so that if any one offered to disturb him, I was ready to 
fight for him, but I did not understand him; yet I got some hope 
of mercy, so that I was encouraged to pray on, and spend my 
leisure hours in reading the Scriptures." He slept little, and 
often awoke from horrible dreams, dripping with sweat and shiv- 
ering with terror. Thus he continued, till Wesley preached, foi 
the first time, in Moorfields. " O," said he, " that was a blessed 
morning for my soul! As soon as he got upon the stand, he 
stroked back his hair and turned his face toward where I stood, 
and I thought he fixed his eyes on me. His countenance struck 
such an awful dread upon me, before I heard him speak, that ii 
made my heart beat like the pendulum of a clock; and when he 
did speak, I thought his whole discourse was aimed at me." 

Wesley, in winding up his sermons, pointing his exhortations 
and driving them home, spoke as if he were addressing himself 
to an individual; so that every one to whom the condition which 
he described was applicable felt as if he were singled out; and 
the preacher's words, like the eyes of a portrait, seemed to look 
at every beholder. "Who art thou," said the preacher, "that 
now seest and feelest thine inward and outward ungodliness? 
Thou art the man! I want thee for my Lord, I challenge thee 
for a child of God by faith. The Lord hath need of tliee. Thou 
who feelest thou art just fit for hell art just fit to advance His 
glory — the glory of His free grace, justifying the ungodly, and 
him that worketh not. O come quickly! Believe in the Lord 
Jesus, and thou, even thou, art reconciled to God." When the 
sermon was ended, Nelson said within himself: "This man can 
tell the secrets of my heart. He hath not left me there, for he 
hath shown the remedy, even the blood of Jesus." His ac- 
quaintances professed alarm at his going too far in religion, and 
wished he had never heard Wesley, for it would be his ruin. " I 
told them," said he, " I had reason to bless God that ever he was 
born, for by hearing him I was made sensible that my business 



164 



Historif of Methodism. 



in this world is to get well out of it; and as for my trade, health, 
wisdom, and all things in this world, they are no blessings to me, 
any further than as so many instruments to help me, by the 
grace of God, to work out my salvation." The family where he 
lodged were disposed to get rid of him, being afraid some mis- 
chief would come from " so much praying and fuss as he made 
about religion." He procured money and went to pay them 
Avhat he owed them, but they would not let him leave. " What 
if John is right, and we are wrong?" they asked among them- 
selves. " If God has done for you any thing more than for us, 
show us how we may find the same mercy;" and he was soon 
leading them to hear Wesley. He even hired a fellow-workman 
to hear him; and the mechanic afterward assured him that it 
was the best deed, both for himself and his wife, that any one 
had ever done for them. Fasting once a week, he gave the food 
saved to the poor. He went to Birstal, after his conversion, to 
visit his family, that he might recommend to them and his neigh- 
bors religion in person. His relations and acquaintances soon 
began to inquire what he thought of this new faith, and whether 
he believed there was any such thing as a man's knowing that 
his sins were forgiven. John told them, point-blank, that this 
new faith, as they called it, was the old faith of the gospel, and 
that he himself was as sure his sins were forgiven as he could 
be of the shining of the sun. Sitting in his door, after the day's 
labor, he read to those who came, and told his experience, and 
explained the Scriptures. The congregations increased, many 
were converted, and he became a preacher without knowing it, 
and was the pioneer and the chief founder of Methodism in that 
portion of England in which it has had signal success down to 
the present time. 

Even Southey had a genuine admiration for some of Wesley's 
lay preachers; he appreciated the heroic element in them; and, 
after giving a particular account of Nelson's conversion, he lin- 
gers about the man that had as " brave a heart as ever English- 
man was blessed with." One of Wesley's first-fruits in field- 
preaching, John Nelson himself became a successful field- 
preacher, and by him "much people was added unto the Lord." 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Church Building — Titles of Property — The Foundry — Eeligious Societies — Fet- 
ter-lane — Threats of Excommunication: How Treated — Separation from the 
Moravians — Strange Doctrines — Stillness — Means of Grace. 



INGSWOOD SCHOOL, of which Whitefielcl laid the 



i\ corner-stone, was finished in a year. The Orphan-honse 
yielded occasionally to the claims of the Colliers' School, and 
public collections of about £100 were made by him. As for the 
rest, the building and management devolved on Wesley. For 
months wherever he went he took subscriptions for this charity, 
which ultimately grew to greater dimensions than he foresaw. 

Another enterprise of historic interest he began as well as fin- 
ished. It was an important step toward the formation of a sep- 
arate denomination, though he entertained no design beyond the 
supply of an immediate want. The awakening, conversion, and 
addition of so large a number of persons to the religious socie- 
ties in Bristol made necessary a larger room, in which they might 
assemble together for worship. A piece of ground was pro- 
cured near St. James's church-yard, Broadmead, and the first 
stone was laid May 12th, 1739, "with the voice of praise and 
thanksgiving." Wesley says: "I had not at first the least ap- 
prehension or design of being personally engaged either in the 
expense of the building or in the direction of it; " he having 
appointed eleven feoffees (trustees), by whom the burdens should 
be borne. But it soon appeared that the work would be at a stand 
if he did not take upon himself the payment of the workmen; 
and he was presently encumbered with a debt of more than £150. 
The subscription of the Bristol societies did not amount to a 
fourth part of that sum. In another and more important point, 
his friends in London, and Whitefield especially, had been far- 
ther-sighted than himself; they represented to him that the trust- 
ees would alw^ays have it in their power to turn him out of the 
room after he had built it, if he did not preach to their liking; 
and they declared that they would have nothing to do with the 
building, nor contribute any thing toward it, unless he instantly 
discharged all trustees, and did every thing in his own name. 




(165) 



166 



History of Methodism. 



Though. Wesley had not foreseen this consequence, he immedi- 
ately perceived the wisdom of his friends' advice, and to avoid 
the evils of congregational fickleness and tyranny, he called to- 
gether the trustees, canceled the writings without any opposition 
on their part, and took the whole trust, as well as the whole man- 
agement, into his own hands. "Money," he says, "it is true, I 
had not, nor any human prospect or probability of procuring it; 
but I knew ' the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; ' and 
in his name set out, nothing doubting." This was a matter of 
great importance, for in this manner nearly all the chapels erect- 
ed in the early part of his career were vested in him; a thing in- 
volving serious responsibility, which was honorably fulfilled; for 
trusts were afterward created, and by the " Deed of Declara- 
tion " all his interests in his chapels were transferred to the Le- 
gal Conference. Connectional Methodism, in Europe and Amer- 
ica, is vastly indebted to the conservative principle here intro- 
duced. Church-houses are not the property of individuals, or 
societies, or corporations, but are held for the use of such a 
ministry as the Conference, representing the whole Church, may 
authorize and appoint. Local defections cannot close them, nor 
pervert them from their original design.* 

The Religious Societies often mentioned arose about the year 
1667 out of an awakening that began under three pious clergy- 
men t in London, and extended to other parts of the land. The 
Church of that day not affording suitable help and fellowship 
for the earnest seekers after salvation, they were advised by those 
whose ministry had been quickening and profitable to their souls 
" to meet together once a week, and to apply themselves to good 
discourse and things wherein they might edify one another." 
They acted upon this advice, and at every meeting made a col- 
lection for the poor. By means of the fund thus provided, num- 
bers of poor families were relieved, sundry prisoners were set at 
liberty by the payment of small debts, several orphans were 
maintained, and a few poor scholars received assistance. These 

^ Decisions in the Court of Clianceiy, made under this " Deed of Declaration," 
have given security to the property and stability to the whole economy of Wes- 
leyan Methodism in Great Britain ; and similar proceedings in American courts 
have settled this principle — that trustees and congregations may rebel or secede, 
but the Church-property remains for the use of the Church. 

fHorneek, Smithies, and Beveridge. 



Bel igious Societies — Fetter-Jane. 



167 



converted persons soon found the benefit of their weekly con- 
ferences with each other. Each person related his religious ex- 
perience to the rest, and thus they became the means of building 
themselves up in the faith of Christ. Eules were drawn up " for 
the better regulation of the meetings." These religious associ- 
ations at one time numbered about forty in the metropolis and 
its vicinity. By the rules of the weekly meetings they were re- 
quired to discourse only on such subjects as tended to "practi- 
cal holiness, and to avoid controversy." For awdiile these soci- 
eties prospered greatly. Out of their religious influence and the 
zeal thus awakened, no less than twenty associations for the 
prosecution and suppression of vice seem to have arisen, which 
were favored by several bishops, and countenanced by the queen 
herself. They had been the means of keeping the spark of piety 
from entire extinction. But after the lapse of some years they 
declined, so that when Wesley commenced his evangelizing la- 
bors, although several societies still existed in London, Bristol, 
Dublin, and some other places, they were by no means in a state 
of vigor and activity. The law of moral affinity drew the Meth- 
odists to them. In their rooms and meetings in London, Bristol, 
and elsewhere, Whitefield and the Wesley brothers, for a few 
years, were accustomed to read and explain the Scriptures almost 
every night. They served them much the same purpose the syn- 
agogues did the first missionaries to the Gentiles — as a base of 
operations for beginning their work. Useful as were the Eelig- 
ious Societies, with their narrow and retired quarters, Method- 
ism had outgrown that provisional arrangement in Bristol as 
soon also it did elsewhere; for the societies were isolated, not 
united; they were at the service of Methodists, but could not be 
under their control. 

The Fetter-lane Society seems to have been like and yet un- 
like the others. On May 1, Wesley and a few others formed 
themselves into a society which met there. The rules were 
printed under the title of " Orders of a Eeligious Society, meet- 
ing in Fetter-lane; in obedience to the command of God by St. 
James, and by the advice of Peter Bolder. 1738." Band-rules, 
and other arrangements for Christian fellowship and mutual ed- 
ification, on the Moravian plan, were adopted. Many seasons of 
great grace were enjoyed there. Monday night, after his return 
from Germany, Wesley's journal has this item: "I rejoiced to 



168 



History of Methodism. 



meet our little society, which now consisted of thirty-two i)er- 
sons." Methodists and Moravians composed this society which 
professed to be in union with the Church of England, and went 
as a body, accompanied by the two Wesleys, to St. Paul's Cathe- 
dral, to receive the holy communion. But a learned mystic came 
in, while Wesley was at Bristol, and taught new-fangled doc- 
trines. A man verj^ different from Bohler was this Molther. 
" German stillness " stole away the hearts of the peo]Dle ; solifid- 
ianism and a contempt of Church orders and of Bible ordinances 
vrere openl}^ inculcated. Separation — as we shall see — finally 
ensued. The Methodist element drew off and "went to their 
own company,' ' and tlie Moravian element of the original Fetter- 
lane Society drew off in another direction, and from this time 
assumed the character of a distinct community belonging to the 
Church of the United Brethren.* This proved to be an impor- 
tant step in the direction of a distinct, homogeneous denomina- 
tion representing well-defined and vital doctrines, though such 
consequence v»'as not intended at the time. 

Wesley had spent part of November in London, endeaA'or- 
ing to comj)ose dissensions in Fetter-lane; and whilst there, two 
gentlemen, then unknown to him, urged him to preach in a 
l^lace called the Foundry, near Moorfields. He writes: ''Sun- 
day, November 11, I x^reached at eight to five or six thousand, 
on the spirit of bondage and the spirit of adoption; and at five 
in the evening to seven or eight thousand, in the x^lace which had 
been the king's foundry for cannon." He was then pressed to 
take the place into his own hands. He did so. The purchase- 
money was :£115; but the building being a "vast, uncouth heap 
of ruins," a large sum additional to this had to be expended in 
needful repairs; and at least £800 was raised, by systematic and 
hard begging, during the next few j^ears, to j)ay for this cathe- 
dral of Methodism. The band-room was behind the chapel, on 
the ground-floor, eighty feet long and twenty feet wide. 1-fere 
the classes met; here, in winter, the five o'clock morning service 
was conducted; and here were held, at two o'clock, on "Wednes- 
daj^s and Fridays, weekly meetings for prayer. The north 
end of the room was used for a school, and was fitted up with 
desks; and at the south end was " The Book Eoom," for the sale 



* Jackson's Life of C. AVesley. 



The Fouudrfj Opened for Worship. 



169 



of Methodist publications. Over the band-room were apartments 
for Wesley, in which his mother spent her last years and died; 
and at the end of the chapel was a dwelling-honse for his domes- 
tics and assistant preachers. The edifice had been a ruin for 
twenty years. In recasting the injured guns taken from the 
French in the campaigns of Marlborough, a terrible explosion 
blew off the roof, shook the building, and killed several of the 
workmen. This led to its abandonment, and the removal of the 
royal foundry to Woolwich. Here was really the cradle of Meth- 
odism. At Bristol the first Methodist church was begun and 
built. The Foundry was the first one opened for worship. Wes- 
ley says, in his introduction to the " General Eules of the Soci- 
ety-:" "In the latter end of the year 1739 eight or ten persons 
came to me in London and desired that I would spend some time 
with them in prayer, and advise them how to flee from the wrath 
to come. This was the rise of the United Society." Twelve 
came the fii'st night, forty the next, and soon after a hundred. 
While the controversy respecting the ordinances — which led to 
a separation from the Moravians — was going on, the Wesleys 
still preached to vast audiences, and with undiminished success. 
Conversions were numerous, and the society connected with the 
Foundry increased continually. Commenced about the end of 
Xovember with twelve members, by the middle of June follow- 
ing it had increased to three hundred. The epochal events of this 
year justified the world-wide centenary solemnities of 1839. 

Methodism now has two churches and a school-house, access 
to the little "rooms" of the Religious Societies here and there, 
and all outdoors, to preach in. The movement widens and takes 
shape. Its leaders are building wiser than they know, for they 
really love the Established Church, and have no thought of cut- 
ting loose from it. ITnder Providence, they meet the necessities 
which success creates, are detached from surroundings, and are 
drifting toward a compact and consistent organism. One possi- 
ble danger hangs vaguely over the heads of the leaders — suspen- 
sion or excommunication, xlccording to the canons of th,e Church, 
no minister is allowed to preach outside of his parish without 
official leave. The bishop of a diocese must give license therein, 
or the preacher is an intruder. This canon had fallen into dis- 
use— s?^& silentio — but it might be revived. Whitefield at Bristol, 
was threatened with it. He boldly reminded the author of the 



170 



History of MefJwdism. 



official menace that another canon forbade his ministers from 
frequenting ale-hoiisen and playing cards, and from other nnmin- 
isterial, if not unchristian, practices. Why was not that canon 
enforced? And Whitefield thundered in his field-pulpit the 
same day. The Bishop of London Tvas displeased at the " ir- 
regularities " of the Methodist preachers, and said to Charles 
Wesley: "I have power to inhibit you." He promptly made 
the issue: "Does your lordship exert that power? Do you now 
inhibit me? " The reply was: " O why will you push me to an 
extreme? I do not inhibit you." After having elicited from the 
learned prelate that, in his opinion, the Religious Societies to 
which they preached were not conyenticles, the poet-preacher 
went his way. 

John TTesley was often importuned to narrow his circle of op- 
erations by taking a curacy or settling at the university. Even 
good men queried: Why this going about and singing psalms, 
and expounding, and gathering assemblies, in other men's par- 
ishes? An entry in his journal at this time points to similar 
interviews : 

For two hours I took up my cross, in arguing with a zealous man, and laboring 
to convince him that I was not an enemy of the Church of England. He allowed 
I taught no other doctrines than those of the Church, but could not forgive my 
teacliing them out of the church-walls. He allowed, too (which none indeed can 
deny who has either any regard to truth or sense of shame), that "by this teach- 
ing many souls who, till that time, were 'perishing for lack of knowledge,' have 
been, and are brought, ' from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto 
God.'" But lie added: "So one can tell what may be hereafter; and therefore I 
say these things ought not to be suffered." 

Honest, zealous man, believing that the salvation of souls is 
too dearly bought if done by a departure from Church-usages! 
— forgetting that Christianity, though conserved by Church- 
order, does not exist for the sake of it. When, b}" one he was 
bound to respect and give an answer to, Wesley was urged to set- 
tle in a college, or to accept a -cure of souls, he replied: " I have 
no business at college, having now no office and no x^upils; and it 
will be time enough to consider whether I ought to accept a cure 
of souls when one is offered to me. On scriptural grounds, I do 
not think it hard to justify what I am doing. God, in Scripture, 
commands me, according to my power, to instruct the ignorant, 
reform the wicked, confirm the virtuous. Man forbids me to do 
this in another's parish; that is, in effect, not to do it at all, see- 



"I Look upon All the World as my Parish'^ 171 



ing I have now no parish of my own, nor probably ever shall. 
Whom, then, shall I hear? God or man? If it be just to obey 
man rather than God, judge ye. I look upon all the world as 
my parish; thus far I mean that, in whatever part of it I am, I 
judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all 
that are willing to hear the glad tidings of salvation." Such was 
tlie position taken by Wesley and his co-Avorkers. His spirit was 
strong in the conciousness of the moral power he was wielding 
by the word of God. On one occasion, he says, his soul was so 
enlarged that he could have cried out, in a higher sense than 
Archimedes, " Give me where to stand, and I will move the 
world." 

Samuel Wesley, deprecating the irregular evangelism of his 
brother, wrote to his mother: " I am not afraid the Church should 
excommunicate him (discipline is at too low an ebb), but that 
he should excommunicate the Church. It is pretty near it." 
One compensation in the case of a lifeless Church is that the 
decay of discipline — an early symptom — has left it without power 
to resist the unusual measures which may be necessary for its 
renovation. At a time when dram-drinking and absentee rectors 
were common, and when heterodoxy, and even a thinly dis- 
guised infidelity, tainted some who were enjoying preferments, 
it would hardly do to revive an obsolete canon against men whose 
fault was that they preached the gospel to more people out- 
of-doors than scores of beneficed clergymen preached to with- 
in church-walls; that they taught the poor and visited the pris- 
ons, and constantly appealed to the articles and homilies of the 
Church for the truth of their doctrines — men of cultured minds 
and commanding eloquence and blameless lives. To excommu- 
nicate them was more than a hierarchy, strong and proud, but 
in some degree responsible to public opinion, could venture to 
do or seriously threaten. 

The Methodists now felt the ground firm under them so far as 
ecclesiastical interference was concerned, and another forward 
movement was made, very shocking to primates and priests — the 
introduction of lay preachers. The fields were white to the har- 
vest, and the laborers few. Wesley could not forbid an increase 
of the staff, because the new workers had not been trained in 
colleges, and came without surplices and gowns. No doubt he 
would have preferred the employment of clerics like himself; but. 



172 



History of Metliodism. 



in the absence of siicli, he was driven to adopt the measure which 
Providence presented, and which the Holy Spirit honored abun- 
dantly. His mission was to the i)eoi)le, and from the people the 
Lord furnished a ministry that sympathized with them, and could 
be understood by them. Again Church-order gave way to the 
higher necessity of saving souls. "I knew your brother well," 
said Robinson, the Archbishop of Armagh, when he met Charles 
"Wesley at the Hotwells, Bristol. " I could never credit all I heard 
respecting him and you; but one thing in your conduct I could 
never account for — your employing laymen." "My lord," said 
Charles, "the fault is yours and your brethren's." "How so?" 
asked the primate. " Because you hold your peace, and the stones 
cry out." "But T am told," his Grace continued, "that they are 
unlearned men." "Some are," said the sprightly poet; "and so 
the dumb ass rebukes the prophet." His lordship said no more."^ 
The New Boom at Bristol, as the first Methodist meeting-house 
was called, was opened, and "Wesley expounded and preached 
there daily. Of the moral condition of the congregation he 
wrote before leaving: " Convictions sink deeper and deeper; love 
and joy are more calm, even, and steady." Charles, who had 
been pastor of the Foundry for several months, and conjointly 
with Molther and others of Fetter-lane, now changed places with 
his brother. W'earied with the wranglings that had broken out 
in that Union Society about "stillness" and the ordinances, 
Charles was refreshed at Bristol, and especially at Kingswood. 
"O what simplicity," he exclaims, "is in this child-like people! 
A spirit of contrition and love ran through them. Here the seed 
has fallen upon good ground." And again, on the next Sabbath: 
" I went to learn Christ among our colliers, and drank into their 
spirit. We rejoiced for the consolation. O that our London 
brethren would come to school to Kingswood! These are what 
i\\Qy _pyef Old to be. God knows their poverty; but they are rich, 
and daily entering into rest, without being first brought into con- 
fusion. They do not hold it necessary to deny the weak faith 
in order to get the strong. Their soul truly waiteth still upon 
God, in the way of his ordinances. Ye many masters, come, 
learn Christ of these outcasts; for know, 'except ye be converted, 
and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom 
of heaven.' " 



^The Life and Times of Eev. John Wesley, M.A. 



Erroneous and Strange Doctrines. 



173 



After repeated interviews and patient waiting, John Wesley 
saw that the Moravian trouble had but one solution. There was 
no hope of those who controlled the London Society, whatever the 
Brethren might be elsewhere. All was confusion. Yain j an- 
glings had done their work. The learned, subtle German mystic 
had his notions and clung to them, and the majority at Fetter- 
lane were of his way of thinking. Wesley's journal, in April, 
shows progress: 

My brother and I went to Mr. Molther again, and spent two hours in conver- 
sation with him. He now also explicitly affirmed : 1 . That there are no degrees in 
faith; that none lias any faith who has ever any doubt or fear; and that none is 
justified till he has a clean heart, with tlie perpetual indwelling of Christ, and of 
the Holy Ghost. And, 2. That every one who has not this ought, till he has it, to 
be still — that is, as he explained it, not to use the ordinances, or means of grace, 
so called. He also expressly asserted that to those who have a clean heart the 
ordinances are not a matter of duty. They are not commanded to use them; they 
are free; they may use them, or they may not. 

Often Wesley expounded in Fetter-lane, laboring to bring 
them to another mind on these and cognate points, showing how 
unwilling he was to part with them. One who had been as a 
pillar " spoke largely of the great danger that attended the doing 
of outward works, and of the folly of people that keep running 
about to church and sacrament, 'as I,' said he, 'did till very 
lately.' " Another, whose influence was weighty, stood up in 
meeting and asserted, in plain terms: "1. That, till they had true 
faith, they ought to be still — that is (as they explained them- 
selves), to abstain from the means of grace, as they are called; 
the Lord's Supper in particular. 2. That the ordinances are 
not means of grace, there being no other means than Christ." 

Neglecting church and sermons was one of the peculiarities 
of this strange heresy. Once Charles Wesley invited a small 
company of the new faith to go with him to the house of God. 
The spokesman replied for himself and the rest, as they settled 
themselves down: "It is good for us to be here.'' 

After a long conference with leading ones, even including 
Spangenberg, and yielding all he could for peace, Wesley records : 

But I could not agree, either, that none has any faith, so long as he is liable 
to any doubt or fear; or that, till we have it, we ought to abstain from the Lord's 
Supper, or the other ordinances of God. At eight, our society met at Fetter-lane. 
We sat an hour without speaking. The rest of the time was spent in dispute; one 
having proposed a question concerning the Lord's Supper, which many warmly 



174 



History of Methodism. 



affirmed none ought to receive till he had "the full assurance of faith." I ob- 
served every day more and more the advantage Satan liad gained over us. Many 
were induced to deny the gift of God, and affirm that they never had any faith at 
all ; and almost all these liad left off the means of grace, saying they must now 
cease from their own works; tliey must now trust in Christ alone; they were poor 
sinners, and had nothing to do but to lie at his feet. 

Again, from the same journal, in June: 

I took occasion to speak of the ordinances of God, as they are means of grace. 
Although this expression of our Church, " means of grace," be not found in Script- 
ure, yet, if the sense of it undeniably is, to cavil at the term is a mere strife of 
Avords. But the sense of it is undeniably found in Scripture. For God hath in 
Scripture ordained prayer, reading or hearing, and the receiving the Lord's Sup- 
per, as the ordinary means of conveying his grace to man. And first, prayer. For 
thus saith the Lord : "Ask, and it shall be given you. If any of you lack wisdom, 
let him ask of God." Here God plainly ordains prayer, as the means of receiving 
whatsoever grace we want. Here is no restriction as to believers or unbelievers ; 
but least of all as to unbelievers, for such doubtless were most of those to whom he 
said, "Ask, and it shall be given you." 

"Do this in remembrance of me." In the ancient Church, every one who was 
baptized communicated daily. So in the Acts we read. They "all continued daily 
in the breaking of bread, and in prayer." But in latter times, many have affirmed 
that the Lord's Supper is not a converting but a confirming ordinance. I showed, 
concerning the Holy Scriptures, that to search (that is, read and hear) them is a 
command of God; that this command is given to all, believers or unbelievers. 

Wesley labored with them further by adducing instances of 
sincere seekers having been consciously pardoned — really re- 
ceived the atonement — in the act of receiving the Lord's Supper. 
Faith to lay hold of the promise was strengthened, and the in- 
ward grace came to them with the outward sign. 

A hard day's work done at field-preaching, he visits them again: 
" Several of our brethren, of Fetter-lane, being met in the even- 
ing, Mr. S told them that I had been preaching up the works 

of the law; 'which,' added Mr. Y , 'we believers are no 

more bound to obey than the subjects of the King of England 
are bound to obey the laws of the King of France.' " No wonder 
AVesley exclaimed that he was " sick of such sublime divinity." 
After prayerful counsel the next week, he wrote down what he 
conceived to be the difference between them: 

As to faith, you believe: 1. There are no degrees of faith; and that no man has 
any degree of it, before all things in him are become new, before he has the full 
assurance of faith, the abiding witness of the Spirit, or the clear perception that 
Christ dwelleth in him. 2. Accordingly, you believe there is no justifying faith, 
or state of justification, short of this. 



Erroneous and Strange Doctrines. 



175 



Whereas I believe: 1. There are degrees of faith; and that a man may liave 
some degree of it, before all things in him are become new, before he has the full 
assurance of faith, the abiding witness of the Spirit, or the clear perception that 
Christ dwelleth in him. 2. Accordingly, I believe there is a degree of justifying 
faith (and, consequently, a state of justification) short of, and commonly antece- 
dent to, this. 

As to the way of faith, you believe: That the way to attain it is to wait for 
Christ, and be still — that is, not to use (what we term) the means of grace; not to 
go to church ; not to communicate ; not to fast ; not to use so much as private prayer ; 
not to read the Scripture (because you believe these are not means of grace — that 
is, do not ordinarily convey God's grace to unbelievers; and that it is impossible 
for a man to use them without trusting in them) ; not to do temporal good ; nor to 
attempt doing spiritual good. 

Whereas I believe: The way to attain it is to wait for Christ, and be still, in 
using all the means of grace. Therefore I believe it right, for him who knows he 
has not faith (that is, that conquering faith), to go to church; to communicate; to 
fast ; to use as much private prayer as he can ; and to read the Scripture (because 
I believe these are 'means of grace' — that is, do ordinarily convey God's grace to 
unbelievers; and that it is possible for a man to use them, without trusting in 
them) ; to do all the temporal good he can ; and endeavor to do spiritual good. 

These business-like statements were deliberately niade and 
considered, and the result soon followed. 

" One evening [July 20]," he says, " I went to the love-feast in 
Fetter-lane; at the conclusion of which, having said nothing till 
then, I read a paper, the substance whereof was as follows: 

" 'About nine months ago certain of you began to speak con- 
trary to the doctrine we had till then received. The sum of what 
you assert is this: 1. That there is no such thing as tceak faith; 
that there is no justifying faith where there is ever any doubt or 
fear, or where there is not, in the full sense, a new, clean heart. 
2. That a man ought not to use those ordinances of Gcd, which 
our Church terms "means of grace," before he has such a faith 
as excludes all doubt and fear, and implies a new, a clean heart. 

"'You have often affirmed that to search the Scriptures, to 
pray, or to communicate, before we have this faith, is to seek sal- 
vation by works ; and that till these works are laid aside, no man 
can receive faith. I believe these assertions to be flatly contrary 
to the word of God. I have warned you hereof again and again, 
and besought you to turn back to the law and the testimony. I 
have borne with you long, hoping you would turn. But as I find 
you more and more confirmed in the error of your ways, nothing 
now remains but that I should give you up to Gcd. You that 
are of the same judgment, follow me.' " 



176 



Historij of Methodism. 



He then, without saying any thing more, withdrew, as did 
eighteen or nineteen of the society. "We gathered up," says 
Charles Wesley, "our wreck ( rari nantes in giirgite vasfo ) floating 
here and there on the yast abyss, for nine out of ten were swal- 
lowed up in the dead sea of stillness. O why was not this done six 
months ago? How fatal was our delay and false moderation! " 

The journal of Wednesday following says: "Our little com- 
pany met at the Foundry, instead of Fetter-lane. About twenty- 
five of our brethren God hath given us already, all of whom think 
and speak the same thing; seven or eight and forty likewise, of 
the fifty women that were in the band, desired to cast in their 
lot with us." Fetter-lane became now, and continued, the 
head-quarters of the Brethren in London. Molther, who had 
put forth in revolting yet seducing manner the disturbing tenets, 
was withdrawn. His successors, without disavowing his teach- 
ing, pursued a conciliatory course. The opinion, perhaps, is just 
that the English branch of Moravianism, at this time, was not 
true to the original stock. Gradually a better understanding 
grew up, and friends at first were friends again at last. It was 
fortunate that the separation came when it did; otherwise, Meth- 
odism might have been entangled with, if not absorbed into, an 
older but feebler and less aggressive body. 

At this distance it is difiicult to realize how serious that trouble 
was. Many of the first converts of the Wesleys were in the 
Fetter-lane Society, and were carried away. The insidious evil 
was eating its way into the body. The stream was about to be 
corrupted at its source. It was a mighty advantage to the Wes- 
leys, in this emergency, that they had the Foundry in their own 
hands. Here they lifted up the warning voice against sin, and 
every form of error, in the presence of people who not unfre- 
quently crowded the place both within and without; some in- 
quiring what they must do to be saved, and others wishful to 
know whether or not there were any means of grace. 

That fine hymn " Long have I seemed to serve thee, Lord," was 
written by Charles Wesley in the midst of these disputes. It 
guards against both extremes, and embodies those just views on 
the subject which the brothers steadily maintained to the end of 
their lives. He used to call upon the right-minded people in 
his congregations at the Foundry to unite with him in singing 
it; and it is difiicult to conceive how any enlightened Christian 



The Means of Grace. 



Ill 



could refuse to join in the holy exercise. Its effect under the 
circumstances must have been powerful. John Wesley's ser- 
mon on " The Means of Grace " — exhaustive and practical — was 
preached about this time."^ 

A high authority in Wesleyan history fixes July 20, 1740, as 
"in strict propriety the real commencement of the Methodist 
Societies." Wesley, indeed, speaks of four other epochs, each 
of which may be regarded as a new development. The first of 
these was the rise of student Methodism, when, in 1729, four 
serious students began to meet together at Oxford. The second 
epoch was in April, 1736, when twenty or thirty persons began to 
meet in Wesley's house at Savannah. The third was May 1, 1738, 
when, by the advice of Peter Bohler, Wesley and other serious 
persons began to meet in Fetter-lane. Again: " In the latter end 
of the year 1739 eight or ten persons came to me in London, and 
desired that I would spend some time with them in prayer, and 
advise them how to flee from the wrath to come; this was the 
rise of the United Society." Yet, even at this last-named period, 
W^esley was connected with the Fetter-lane Society and the Mora- 
vians; so that the Society formed by him in 1739 did not stand 
out as a separate and distinct religious body. But after Sunday, 
July 20th, 1740, all the initiatory stages of an orthodox, homo- 
geneous, and self-governing body had been passed through, and 
there was (in its infancy, indeed, but having a separate existence 
and action) a Wesleyan Methodist Society. Not that it was 
known by that name — it was not; "but from that germ the Wes- 
leyan Society has grown, and no other change has passed upon 
it, except from small to great, from few to many, from weak to 
strong, from a rudimental condition to one of full development. 
The Society then formed at the Foundry has remained, by a con- 
tinual accession of new members, to the present time." f 



^Sermon No. XVI. f History of Wesleyan Methodism, Geo. Smith, F.A.S. 
12 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Lay Preaching: How Begun; Its Necessity and Eight — Conservatism Inwrought 
into Methodism — Qualification of the "Unlearned" Preacher. 

"A "TEW fields were occupied; tlie work enlarged; there was no 



retreating; but wliere are the preachers to come from to 
sustain the movement? The Lord will provide. In his absence 
from London, AVesley appointed a young layman — Thomas Max- 
field — to hold prayer-meetings, to exhort, and give spiritual ad- 
vice, as they might need it, to the people who met at the Found- 
ry. Being fervent in spirit and mighty in the Scriptures, he 
greatly profited the people. They crowded to hear him, and by 
the increase of their number, as well as by their earnest and 
deep attention, they led him insensibly to go farther than he had 
at first designed. He began to preach, and the Lord so blessed 
the word that many were brought to repentance and a conscious- 
ness of pardon. The Scripture marks of true conversion evinced 
the work to be of God. Some were offended at this irregularity. 
A complaint was made to Wesley, and he hastened to London to 
put a stop to it. His mother then lived in his house, adjoining 
to the Foundry. When he arrived, she perceived that his coun- 
tenance was expressive of dissatisfaction, and inquired the cause. 
" Thomas Maxfield," said he abruptly, " has turned preacher, I 
find." She looked attentively at him, and replied: "John, you 
know what my sentiments have been. You cannot suspect me 
of favoring readily any thing of this kind..' But take care what 
you do with respect to that young man, for he is as surely called 
of God to preach as you are. Examine what have been the fruits 
of his preaching, and hear him also yourself." He did so. His 
prejudice bowed before the force of truth, and he could only say, 
" It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good." Afterward, 
some of those young men who had thus begun to preach offered 
themselves to assist their father in the gospel, by preaching 
wherever he might appoint them. Maxfield, Richards, Westall, 
John Nelson, Joseph Humphries, at first, and then a host of 
other itinermits, came forward in the course of time. Wesley 
said, " I durst not refuse their assistance." Lay preaching was 




(178) 



Wesley and Lay Preaching. 179 



a part of Methodism; indeed, without it there would have been 
no Methodism larger and more lasting than the Religious Soci- 
eties of the former century; but bringing into the field that 
mighty arm of gospel service was unpremeditated by Wesley. 
It was contrary to all his previous views, and he submitted to it 
as to a manifestation of the Divine will. " If he erred at all in 
this matter," says a high Wesley an authority, " it was not in the 
way of innovation, but by an improper adlierence to the practice 
of the Church of England in refusing to allow such men, although 
so clearly called of God, to administer the sacraments, because 
they were not episcopally ordained. Yet to this practice he did 
adhere, although he could not defend it on scriptural grounds." * 

It is safe to assume the reproductive power of the gospel. 
Wherever souls are converted under preachings among the con- 
verts will be found some who are called of the Holy Spirit and 
qualified to preach. " Wesley," continues the same author, "was 
not embarrassed for want of fellow-laborers, by the barrenness of 
his converts, and the paucity of spiritual gifts among them. 
Seldom has the Church seen persons more richly endowed with 
all the qualifications essential to spiritual usefulness. He had 
men among his sons in the gospel qualified for every kind of 
ministerial duty, but nothing except a clear providential call 
could induce him to depart so far from the order of the Estab- 
lished Church as to give his sanction to the preaching of laymen 
in his societies." t 

Lay preaching, like lay baptism, has about it the ill odor of 
apostolic succession. If the term be used to distinguish between 
persons separated to preaching and the pastoral care, and others 
who, while licensed to preach, follow secular pursuits, and are 
not amenable to the laws and usages regulating the labors of 
those under vows to " devote themselves wholly to God and his 
work" — utility may justify its employment.:}: But the term was 
long applied to men who were devoting themselves wholly to God 
and his work; who annually received appointments to pastoral 
care; who were models of ministerial fidelity and propriety; and 
whose gifts, graces, and usefulness would have adorned any age 
of the Church. Wesley had to move slowly. The pressure was 
great on both sides: on one, he was blamed for allowing lay 

■^Smith's History of Wesley and his Times, t Ibid. J The terms in general 
use among Methodists are better — traveling and local preachers. 



180 



Histonj of Methodism. 



preachers at all ; on tlie other, for not allowing those under whose 
ministrj^ congregations were gathered and edified, and sonls con- 
verted, to go farther, and administer to them the sacraments as 
well as the word. Watson pronounces his defense of himself on 
the first point "irrefutable;" and it turns upon the disappoint- 
ment of his hopes that the parochial clergy would take the 
charge of those who in different places had been brought to God 
by his ministry and that of his fellow-laborers. These are Wes- 
ley's words: 

It jjleased God, by two or three ministers of the Church of England, to call 
many sinners to repentance, who in several parts were undeniably turned from a 
course of sin to a course of holiness. The ministers of the places ^vhere this was 
done ought to have taken those persons who had just begun to serve God into their 
particular care, watching over them in tender love, lest they should fall back into 
tlie snare of the devil. And how did they watch over the sinners lately reformed? 
Even as a leopard watcheth over his prey. They drove some of them from the 
Lord's table; to which till now they had no desire to approach. They preached 
all manner of evil concerning them, openly cursing them in the name of the Lord. 
They turned many out of their work, persuaded others to do so too, and harassed 
them in all manner of ways. When the ministers, by whom God had helped them 
before, came again to those places, great part of tlieiv Avork was to begin again, if 
it could be begun again; but the relapsers were often so hardened in sin that no 
impression could be made upon them. AVhat could they do in a case of so extreme 
necessity, where so many souls lay at stake? 

"God," saj^s Watson, "had given him large fruits of his min- 
istry in various places. AYhen he was absent from them, the 
people were ' as sheep having no shepherd,' or were rather per- 
secuted by their natural pastors, the clergy; he was reduced, 
therefore, to the necessity of leaving them without religious care, 
or of providing it for them. He wisely chose the latter; but, 
true to his own principles, and even prejudices, he carried this 
no farther than the necessity of the case; the hours of service 
were in no instance to interfere with those of the Establishment, 
and at the parish church the members were exliortecl to commu- 
nicate. Mr. Wesley resisted all attempts at a formal separation, 
still hoping that a more friendly spirit would spring up among 
the clergy; and he even pressed hard upon the consciences of 
his people to effect their uniform and constant attendance at their 
parish churches and at the sacrament; but he could not long and 
generally succeed. The effect was, that long before his death 
the attendance of the Methodists at such parish churches as had 
not pious ministers was exceeding scanty; and as they were not 



Question of the Sacraments. 181 

permitted public worship among themselves in tlie hours of 
Church service, a great part of the Sabbath was lost to them, ex- 
cept as they employed it in family and private exercises. So 
also as to the Lord's Supper : as it was not then administered by 
their own ministers, it fell into great and painful neglect." 

This soon came to be, among the Methodists, the question or 
the day. The attempt to force them to an attendance upon the 
services of the Established Church, by refusing to them the sac- 
raments from their own preachers, and by closing their chaj^els 
during the Sabbath, except early in the morning and in the even- 
ing, drove many of them into a state of actual separation both 
from the State Church and their own societies, and placed them 
in the hands of Dissenters. It required uncommon meekness 
for men, after hearing a sermon that railed at them and their 
teachers, to kneel at the chancel, with bruises on their bodies, 
and receive the sacrament from the hands of a clergyman who 
had set the mob on them. Charles AYesley did his best, especial- 
ly at Bristol and London, to supply the sacrament to the Meth- 
odists; but this partial or local accommodation only made the 
dissatisfaction greater in other places. His High-church feelings 
could hardly endure the innovation of lay preaching; but the ad- 
ministration of the sacraments by men not episcopally ordained 
was quite out of the question; it would make Dissenters out of 
them ipso facto, and bring on separation ! He wrote to John 
Nelson: "John, I love thee from my heart; yet, rather than see 
thee a Dissenting minister, I wish to see thee smiling in thy cof- 
fin." Whitefield, when doing his glorious work among the neg- 
lected colliers at Kingswood, complains that " while he was thus 
employed some of the clergy in Bristol inveighed against him 
from their pulpits with great vehemence, and others complained 
bitterly of the intolerable increase of their labor when he brought 
large companies of reclaimed profligates to the churches to re- 
ceive the Lord's Supper." Charles Wesley had recorded under 
date of Oct. 13, 1740, Bristol— several years before he wrote the 
above to John Nelson: "I waited with my brother upon a min- 
ister, about baptizing some of his parish. He complained heav- 
ily of the multitude of our communicants, and produced the 
canon against strangers. He could not admit tliat as a reason 
for their coming to his church — that they had no sacrament at 
their own. I offered my assistance to lessen his trouble, but he 



1S2 Historij of Methodism. 

declined it. There were a liundred new communicants, he tokl 
us, last Sunday; and he added: 'I am credibly informed some 
of them came out of spite to me.' " Yet this good man — this 
primitive Methodist — was so wedded to the Established Church 
that unless John Nelson, and others like him, could be " episco- 
pally ordained" he would rather see John "smiling in his cof- 
fin" than upon a presbyterial ordination administering baptism 
or the Lord's Supper to a Methodist congregation. How ground- 
less and absurd the theory, popular in certain quarters, that 
"ambition" was at the bottom of the Methodist movement! 

One is tempted to impatience at such conservatism. Providen- 
tially led, the founder of Methodism was careful not at any time 
to get ahead of Providence; for whoever does that will often be 
compelled to retrace his steps. Wesley moved slowly — perhaps 
it is well that he did. At this stage of the case, he writes defen- 
sively of those God had given him: 

It is true that in ordinary cases both an invxvrd and an oufuxtrd call are requisite. 
But "we apprehend there is something far from ordinari/ in tlie present case; and 
upon the calmest view of things vre think they who are only called of God, and 
not of man, have more right to preach than they who are only called of man, and 
not of God. Xow, that many of the clergy, though called of man, are not called 
of God to preach his gospel is undeniable: 1. Because they themselves utterly dis- 
claim — nay, and ridicule — the inward call. 2. Because they do not know what the 
gospel is; of consequence, they do not and cannot preach it. This, at present, is my 
chief embarrassment. That I have not gone too far yet, I know; but whether I 
have gone far enough, I am extremely doubtful. I see those running whom God 
hath not sent; destroying their own souls and those that hear them. Unless I 
warn, in all ways I can, these i^erishing souls of their danger, am I clear of the 
blood of these men? Soul-damning clergymen lay me under more difficulties than 
soul-saving laymen I 

But why were not soul-saving laymen " called of man " at this 
time, as well as of God? Why were they not then ordained to 
the full work of the ministry? Here Vv-e encounter the fable of 
apostolic succession, of which Wesley had not yet rid himself; 
also another difficulty, which we cannot help respecting — a re- 
gard for the order of things long established; a reluctance at 
innovation; a constitutional dislike of revolution. The men who 
easily give up convictions, and even prejudices, on fundamental 
matters, and are ever ready for radical changes, are not the kind 
of instruments for working solid and enduring reformations. 
Conservatism in revolution is a rare and valuable factor. It cre- 
ates and transmits to the organization that follows the subtle 



Conservatism Imvrought into Methodism. 183 



power of stability. "It is manifest that in neglect or contempt 
of order, Christianity could not have been handed down from age 
to age; but unless once and again order had given way to a higher 
necessity, the gospel must by this time have lain deep buried be- 
neath the corrupt accumulations of eighteen hundred years. Yet 
it is a fact worthy of all regard that when Heaven sends its own 
chosen men to bring about needed reformations, at the cost of 
a momentary anarchy, it does not give any such commission as 
this to those who by temper are anarchists." * 

By and by the Wesleyan organization in Europe and America 
was completed; but its consistency and stability and strength 
are largely due to cautious and slow steps. No man in England 
or the Colonies was bound by law or conscience to the State 
Church — the connection was purely voluntary. Yet, Methodists 
did not hastily quit it. A conservative habit; subordination to 
lawful power; love of order; respect for constituted authorities, so 
long as they can possibly serve the purpose for which they were 
constituted — this has been a heritage of Methodism. If the 
fathers were too wise and too practical to put new wine into the 
old bottles of succession and a national hierarchy, they first tried 
the old bottles to see if they would do; and after being thor- 
oughly satisfied of their incapacity and unavailability, they laid 
aside the leaky leathern bags respectfully, if not regretfully. 

It was well enough that the founder of Methodism labored to 
put the fruit of an evangelical ministry under the care of pastors 
already licensed, and to keep the revival inside the Church where 
it was needed, and in which he had been bred up and ordained; 
but the priests and prelates could not see the opportunity; their 
eyes were holden. "We will not go out,'' said Wesley; "if we 
are thrust out, well." It was well enough that he asked the Bish- 
op of London, once and again, to ordain Methodist preachers for 
America — m.en by every token fit for the field; his lordship, by 
the letter of the law, held "jurisdiction" in the Colonies. He 
refused, and thereby deprived Methodism of all that the Estab- 
lished Church gained by his refusal — exactly nothing. When 
the time was fully come in which no question of jurisdiction 
could be raised, Wesley exercised the scriptural right of ordain- 
ing men for America. He respected the "jurisdiction" so long 
as it had any show of existence. 



■^'Wesley and Methodism. 



184 



Hisforij of Methodism. 



Lay preacliers, so called, and their people, endured with sin- 
gular patience; it was homage done to even the appearance of 
law and order. Their self- denial had its reward. The attesta- 
tion of Heaven not only justified but demanded the measures 
subsequently taken. By their fruit ye shall know them. Men 
do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. 

"But I am told that they are unlearned men," said the Arch- 
bishop of Armagh to Charles Wesley at the Hotwells, when ob- 
jecting to lay preachers. Charles turned the point neatly, but 
his brother would have answered his Grace on the merits of the 
question. In these well-known words, John would have repelled 
the charge of ignorance brought against his preachers: "In one 
thing which they profess to know, they are not ignorant men. I 
trust there is not one of them who is not able to go through such 
an examination in substantial, practical, exx)erimental divinity as 
few of our candidates for holy orders, even in the university — I 
speak it with sorrow and shame — are able to do." 

lYould not Thomas Walsh or Eobert Strawbridge, and scores 
of Irish Methodist preachers, have excelled the archbishop him- 
self in teaching the way of salvation to an aA^erage thousand of 
Irishmen? Stripped of the adventitious importance of his office, 
would not they have commanded the attention of a multitude — 
taking people as they are found — as well as he ? 

Wise master-builders are needed; but few people would dwell 
in houses, if none but master-builders were to help build them. 
Many a workman does well on the wall who has not the skill to 
lay off a foundation, to turn an arch, or to carry up a corner. It 
is as unphilosoi^hical as unscriptural to allow no one to preach 
the gospel until he can properly be styled 'learned." A man 
Avhose literary education falls far below that standard may nev- 
ertheless, in knowledge and experience, be sufficiently in advance 
of multitudes of hearers to guide and teach them in religion, to 
their infinite profit. Methodism is a friend of learning; it gave 
"the first impulse to x^opular education" in the last century; it 
encourages all ministers to reach the highest attainments in 
knowledge, and has always been able to show a fair proportion 
of men in the ranks of the "learned;" but Methodism never 
committed the blunder, the crime against destitute regions and 
perishing souls, of saying that none but "learned" men shall be 
allowed to preach the gospel. The Christian ministry must have 



Qualifications of the Ministry. 



185 



Greek and Hebrew scholars; but that all Christian ministers 
must be Greek and Hebrew scholars does not follow. The link 
connecting such a conclusion with that premise no logician ever 
has found or can find. 

The following are the practical, scriptural tests upon which 
the Methodist ministry has been ordained. They were adopted 
at the beginning, and they are the standard now: 

Ques. 1. How shall we try those who profess to he nioved by the Holy Ghost 
to preach? 

Ans. Let them be asked the following questions, namely: 

1. Do they know God as a pardoning God? Have they the love of God abid- 
ing in them ? Do they desire and seek nothing but God ? And are they holy in 
all manner of conversation? 

2. Have they gifts (as well as grace) for the work ? Have they (in some toler^ 
able degree) a clear, sound understanding, a right judgment in the things of God, 
a just conception of salvation by faith? Do they speak justly, readily, clearly? 

3. Have they fruit? Are any truly convinced of sin and converted to God by 
their preaching? 

As long as these three marks concur in any one, Ave believe he is called of God 
to preach. These we receive as sufficient proof that he is moved by the Holy 
Ghost. 

It has been well remarked that " no man could give satisfac- 
tory replies to these questions unless he were truly pious and 
really called of God to preach his gospel." No candidate for a 
medical or legal diploma, no applicant for a naval or military or 
civil commission, can afford stronger proofs of suitable capacity 
for the situation he seeks, than such affirmative answers afford 
that a man is divinely called to the work of the ministry. Wes- 
ley did not look for precedents; he did not appeal to ecclesias- 
tical history; he rightly judged that if a "layman" had never 
preached before, the layman in whom these evidences were found 
was entitled to belief, when he professed " to be moved by the 
Holy Ghost to preach." 



CHAPTER XV. 



Whitefield Keturns to America — Lays the First Brick of the Orphan-house — 
An Old Friend — Concerning the Collection — Success of his Ministry — ''Poor 
Richard" gives the Contents of his Wallet — Separation between Wesley and 
Whitefield — Painful Facts — Profitable Consequences. 

WHITEFIELD' S visit of nine months to England resulted 
in the inanguration of field-preaching and a liberal col- 
lection for the Georgia orphanage. He landed at Philadelphia 
in November, and sending forward his company to Savannah, he 
himself went "ranging." 

He never preached with more power and success than during 
the next few months. In Philadelphia it is a small thing to say 
that the churches overflowed twice a day; the awakening was 
shown in part by " twenty-six societies for social prayer and re- 
ligious conference," established in the city. He visited New 
York, and the word of the Lord was mighty among the people. 
In New Jersey his ministry was attended with great blessing. 
He met the Blairs, Tennents, and others, and formed a loving 
friendship for these evangelical men. His journal thus notices 
the beginnings of Princeton College (Nov. 22) : 

Mr. Tennent and his brethren in presbytery intend breeding up gracious youths 
for our Lord's vineyard. The place wherein the young men now study is a 
log-house, about twenty feet long, and nearly as many broad. From this despised 
place seven or eight worthy ministers of Jesus have been sent forth, and a founda- 
tion is now laying for the instruction of many others. The work, I am persuaded, 
is of God, and therefore will not come to naught. 

Whitefield' s tour southward was a string of appointments. 
Wilmington, Annapolis, and other places, heard him gladly. At 
one meeting-house in the woods he " observed new scenes of field- 
preaching" — the congregation being rated at not less than ten 
thousand. People came twenty miles to hear. In Yirginia he 
met Commissary Blair at Williamsburg, and was "courteously 
entreated" by him and the governor; of course he preached to 
the elite of the Old Dominion at the capitol there. 

William and Mary College, chartered and in part endowed by 
the sovereigns whose name it bears, was there. Early in the cent- 
ury, a commencement was held at the college. Planters came in 
(ISO) 



Whifejield Again in America. 



187 



coaches; others in vessels from New York, Pennsylvania, and 
Maryland—" it being a new thing in that part of America to hear 
graduates perform their exercises." A few miles distant was 
Jamestown, where the first English settlement on onr Continent 
was made in 1607. Parish priest and prayer-book started ont with 
the colony, and for a century and a quarter the Established Church 
had held sway in Virginia, sternly repressing Dissenters. As 
early as 1671, Gov. Berkeley wrote : "We have forty-eight parishes, 
and our ministers are well paid, and by my consent should be 
better if they would pray oftener and preach less. But of all other 
commodities, so of this, the worst are sent to us." Being under an 
episcopal regimen, with the bishop three thousand miles off, the 
churches showed the worst features of Congregationalism, without 
the benefits of their own system. Ministerial discipline was out 
of the question, and likewise ministerial independence. The 
Commissary could do nothing. He was the deputy of a bishop, 
without the right to ordain or depose a minister. So long as the 
parson was not installed — and the vestry had the sole right of 
presentation — he was subject from year to year to be removed. 
The complaint was that "the ministers were 'most miserably 
handled by their plebeian juntos, the vestries.' The 'hiring' of 
parsons, as it was called, was left wholly to them. In many in- 
stances they resolved either to have no ministers at all or to reduce 
them to their own terms. They used them as they pleased, paid 
them what they pleased, and discarded them when they pleased." 

The results of Whitefield's labors were appropriated and as- 
similated in New England and New Jersey and Pennsylvania, for 
there was vitality in the Congregational and Presbyterian organ- 
izations. But the effete Establishment of Virginia got little prof- 
it from the visitation: it was too busily engaged at keeping down 
Dissenters. What they did not gather of the great evangelist's 
labors fared like seed sown on the way-side. 

Fredericksburg, Virginia, did not treat him well on this or a 
subsequent tour. Jesse Lee — of whom more hereafter — passed 
through Fredericksburg, about the beginning of this century: 

On the 24tli of March, Mr. Lee preached in this pLace, and was rejoiced to find 
the Church enjoying a season of refreshing. It was the first spiritual visitation 
for a long series of years; and it is mentioned in connection with the following 
facts: When Mr. Whitefield passed through the place, on one occasion, he at- 
tempted to preach ; and either while preaching or in seeking an opportunity to do 



188 



Ilistorij of Methodism. 



so, he was treated with so much rudeness and incivility that, in obedience to the 
words of Christ, lie pulled ofi' his shoes, and shook the dust from them, as a testi- 
mony against the place. And from that solemn form of denunciation until the 
time of which we are writing, it is not known that a sinner was converted; and it 
is affirmed no revival of religion had ever blessed the place with its manifold 
spiritual benefits. "If," says the author, "this legend be true, the curse had 
worked out its consummation. The indignation was past ; and God had turned from 
the fierceness of his anger, and now had mercy upon the people. A goodly num- 
ber were gathered into the fold of Christ, a house of worship was erected, and seed 
was sown that is even now bringing forth fruit unto eternal life."^ 

At New Berne, N. C, " liis preaching was attended with uncom- 
mon influence." As he approached Charleston, " he could scarce- 
ly believe but he was amongst Londoners, both in respect of 
gayety o£ dress and politeness of manners." He arrived at 
Savannah January 11th. It was a melancholy thing to see the 
colony of Georgia reduced even to a much lower ebb than when 
he left it, and almost deserted by all but such as could not well 
go away. Employing these, therefore, he thought would be of 
singular service, and the money expended might be also a 
means of keeping them in the colony. Before his arrival, Mr. 
Habersham had pitched upon a plot of ground of five hundred 
acres for the Orphan-house, about ten miles from Savannah, 
and had already begun to clear and stock it. The orphans, in 
the meantime, were accommodated in a hired house. On the 
25 th of March, 17-40, he laid the first brick of the house, which 
he called "Bethesda," /. e., a house of mercy. By this time near 
forty children were taken in, to be provided with food and rai- 
ment; and counting the workmen and all, he had near a hundred 
to be daily fed. He had very little money in bank, and yet he 
was persuaded that the best thing he could do at present for the 
infant colony was to carry on the work. 

Here we look around for an old friend; for when we parted 
with Peter Bohler he was on his way to Savannah, to preach to 
the Brethren and to the negroes, and — as he might be able — to 
the Indians. He had a very long and perilous voyage, and on 
his arrival in Georgia found every thing in tumult, resulting 
from war between England and Spain. Many of the Moravian 
colonists, whose fears of personal safety were not groundless, 
had fled to Pennsylvania; and Bolder found a mere handful of 
Brethren and few slaves. During the summer he was prostrated 



" Life and Times of Eev. Jesse Lee, by L. M. Lee, D.D. 



The Orphan-house — An Old Friend. 



189 



by fever, and barely recovered in time to bury the beloved Schu- 
lius Eicliter, his companion and first-born in the gospel. Bohler 
and Seiffart, with sad hearts, led the remnant of their flock, on 
foot, through the wilderness to Wyoming Yalley, and there es- 
tablished the famous Moravian settlement. Under the shadow 
of a broad oak, on the bark of which the initials of Bohler and 
Seiffart were visible so late as 1799, they returned thanks, in the 
fine hymns of their native land, to the God of all grace for his 
care."^ Bohler adapted himself to his new position with his usual 
tact. He superintended the carpenters and wielded the ax; he 
handled the saw with hearty good-will; he encouraged the work- 
men by his counsels and example, and conducted their daily serv- 
ices with great unction and power. He walked also to a distant 
mill to procure the necessaries of life, preached with his accus- 
tomed fervor on the Sabbath, and performed all the duties of 
a Christian pastor with rare fidelity. The spiritual life of the 
community was thus sustained; and Bohler refers to the period 
as a season peculiarly blessed of the Lord. He was consecrated 
bishop at Herrnhag, in 1748; crossed the Atlantic six or eight 
times, serving his Church in both hemispheres — noAV in the 
universities and cities of the Old World, and now among the 
Indian tribes and infant settlements of the New. In 1775 he 
died, or entered into "the metropolis of souls," as heaven is aptly 
termed in Moravian phraseology.f 

Whitefield, to escape the summer heat, and to raise funds for the 
enterprise in hand, returned northward, preaching the gospel and, 
Paul-like, taking a collection. The first collection he made in 
America was in Charleston. He was desired by some of the in- 
habitants to speak in behalf of tlie poor orphans, and the collec- 
tion amounted to X70. This was no small encouragement at that 
time, especially as he had reason to think it came from those who 
had received spiritual benefit by his ministrations. At Phila- 
delphia he preached in the fields, and large collections were made 
for the Orphan-house — once, <£110. Societies for praying and 
singing were increased, and many were concerned about their 
salvation. "Many negroes came," says Whitefield, "some in- 
quiring, Have I a soul? " He had the subtle power of interest- 

* Life of Peter Bohler, by Lockwood. 

t A wortliy descendant of this excellent man — a Miss Bohler — until lately re- 
sided at Bethlehem, Pa., being connected with the Moravian Female Seminary. 



190 



History of Methodism. 



ing all classes of hearers, and of chaining to his lips every ear 
within sound of his voice. A ship-builder v^^as asked what he 
thought of him. "Think!" he replied; "I tell you, sir, every 
Sunday that I go to my parish church I can build a ship from 
stem to stern under the sermon; but were it to save my soul, 
under Mr. Whitefield, I could not lay a single plank." But per- 
haps the greatest proof of his persuasive powers was when he 
drew from Franklin's pocket the money which the author of 
"Poor Richard" had determined not to give. "I did not," says 
the philosopher, "approve of the Orphan-house at Savannah. 
Georgia was destitute of materials and workmen, and it was pro- 
posed to send them from Philadelphia, at a great expense. I 
thought it would have been better to have built the house at 
Philadelphia, and brought the children to it. This I ad^dsed, 
but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my counsel, and 
I therefore refused to contribute. I happened, soon after, to at- 
tend one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he 
intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he 
should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of 
copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in 
gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give 
the copper; another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of 
that and determined me to give the silver; and he finished so ad- 
mirably that I emptied my pocket into the collector's dish, gold 
and all. At this sermon," continues Pranklin, " there was also 
one of our club who, being of my sentiments respecting the 
building in Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be intend- 
ed, had by precaution emptied his pockets before he came from 
home. Toward the conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt 
a strong inclination to give, and applied to a neighbor who stood 
near him to lend him some money for the purpose. The request 
was fortunately made to perhaps the only man in the company 
who had the firmness not to be affected by the preacher. His 
answer was: 'At any other time, friend Hopkinson, I would lend 
thee freely, but not now, for thee seems to me to be out of thy 
right senses.' " 

About this time "Whitefield sent his confidential friend and 
agent, Seward, over to England on important business: 

To acquaint the Trustees of Georgia with tlie state of the colony, and the means, 
under God, for the better establishment thereof, it being now upheld almost wholly 



Wh itefieM s Gospel-ranging. 



191 



by the soldiery and Orplian-house, most of the people who are unconcerned in 
either being gone or about to go. The proper means are principally three: 1. An 
alloAvance of negroes. 2. A free title to the lands [under the Trustee-government 
females could not inherit]. 3. An independent magistracy, viz., such as are able 
and willing to serve without fee or reward. Further, to bring over the money 
lodged in their [Trustees] hands for building the church at Savannah. 

He kept on preaching, generally twice a day, thougli sometimes 
so overpowered by heat that he had to be lifted to his horse, 
riding for the next appointment. With great joy he returned to 
the Orphan-house, bringing, in money and provisions, more than 
£500. His family was now increased to one hundred and fifty, 
and his friends, believing the work to be of God, continued to 
assist him. Though he was now very weak, the cry from various 
quarters for more preaching, and the necessity of supplying so 
large a family, made him go again to Charleston, where, as well 
as at many other towns, the people thronged. Charleston was 
the place of his greatest success, and of the greatest opposition. 
The Commissary thundered anathemas and wrote against him, 
but all in vain; helping friends still more increased. His gospel- 
ranging was itinerancy on a large scale. He reached New En- 
gland, and great was the stir; he visited Jonathan Edwards, at 
Northampton. At every place on the road pulpits were open, 
and a divine unction attended his preaching. After leaving 
Northampton, he preached in many towns to large and affected 
congregations. The good old Governor of Massachusetts carried 
him in his coach from place to place, and could not help follow- 
ing him fifty miles out of town, saying, " Thanks be to God for 
such refreshings on our way to heaven!" The Boston people 
generally received him as an angel of God. " When he preached 
his farewell sermon in the Common, there were twenty-three 
thousand at a moderate computation." Dr. Samuel Hopkins, 
then a student, says in his Memoirs: "He preached against 
mixed dancing and the frolicking of males and females together; 
which practice was then very common in New England. This 
offended some, especially young people. But I remember I jus- 
tified him in this in my own mind and in conversation Avith those 
who were disposed to condemn him. This was in 1740, when I 
entered on my last year in college." December 1, he set sail for 
Charleston, and makes the following remark: 

It is now the seventy-fifth day since I arrived in Eeedy Island. My body was 
then weak, but the Lord has much renewed its strength. I have been enabled to 



192 



History of Methodism, 



preacJi, T think, a hundred- and seventy-five times in public, besides exhorting fre- 
quently in private. I have traveled upward of eight hundred miles, and gotten 
upward of £700 in goods, provisions, and money, for the Georgia orphans. Never 
did I perform my journeys with so little fatigue, or see such a continuance of the 
Divine presence in tlie congregations to which I have preached. "Praise the 
Lord, 0 my soul ! " 

After preacliing at Charleston and Savannah, he arrived at 
Bethesda in December, and in January left for England.'^ 

Hitherto the two Wesleys and Whitefield have worked togeth- 
er. Wesley once inquired, "Have we not leaned too much to 
Calvinism?" Whitefield no doubt felt that he had leaned too 
much to Arminianism. These tendencies must develop in all 
earnest and vigorous minds, until a consistent, not to say scientific, 
basis is reached. Each, therefore, became more pronounced. 
There is no half-way system. Now came what was equally pain- 
ful to both parties, but inevitable — separation. Whitefield's 
New England associations and reading had advanced and inten- 
sified him, and he communicated his views to friends in Old En- 
gland — not without effect. The latent Calvinism and the latent 
Arminianism in Methodism began to strive with each other like 
Eebecca's twins. After the birth they were brothers stilly but 
must live and work apart. 

The first intimation of an outbreak in the London Society was 
on this wise : A leading member, by name Acourt, had introduced 
his disputed tenets, till Charles Wesley gave orders that he should 
no longer be admitted. John was present when next he presented 
himself and demanded whether they refused admitting a person 
only because he differed from them in opinion. Wesley an- 
sw^ered "No," but asked what opinions he meant. He replied: 
" That of election. I hold that a certain number are elected from 
eternity, and these must and shall be saved, and the rest of man- 
kind must and shall be damned." And he affirmed that many 
of the Society held the same; upon which Wesley observed that 
he never asked whether they did or not; "only let them not 
trouble others by disputing about it." xlcourt replied: "Nay, 
but I will dispute about it." " Why then," said Wesley, " would 
you come among us, who you know are of another mind? " " Be- 
cause you are all wrong, and I am resolved to set you all right." 
"I fear," said Wesley, "your coming with this view would nei- 
ther profit you nor us." " Then," replied Acourt, " I will go and 

* Memoirs of the Rev. Geo. Whitefield, by Gillies. 



Wesley's Sermon on "Free Grace.'' 



193 



tell all the world that you and your brother are false prophets. 
And I tell you in one fortnight you will all be in confusion." 

John Cennick had been appointed by the Wesleys to teach the 
Kingswood School and, in their absence, to care for the Society 
at Bristol. He had developed his Calvinism and stolen away the 
hearts of half the people before they were aware of the mischief. 
"Alas!" wrote Charles to his brother, "alas! we have set the 
wolf to watch the sheep ! God gave me great moderation toward 
him who for many months has been undermining our doctrine 
and authority." Cennick had written a letter to AVhitefield, de- 
scribing from his own point of view the shocking teachings of 
the two brothers on predestination, and concludes: "Fly, dear 
brother! I am alone — I am in the midst of the plague! If God 
give thee leave, make haste!" Of course Cennick was discon- 
nected from the Society, and pretty soon there was a vacancy in 
the headship of the school; but he took a number with him. 

To check the progress of what he regarded serious error, 
Wesley preached a sermon on "Free Grace" — text, Rom. viii. 
32.^ The preacher begins by saying the grace or love of God, 
whence cometh our salvation, is free in ally and free for all: 

First, it is free in all to whom it is given. It does not depend on any power or 
merit in man; no, not in any degree, neither in whole nor in part. It does not 
in any wise depend either on the good works or righteousness of the receiver; not 
on any thing he has done, or any thing he is. It does not depend on his good 
tempers, or good desires, for all tliese flow from the free grace of God; they are 
the streams only, not the fountain. They are the fruits of free grace, and not the 
root. They are not the cause, but the efiects of it. Thus is his grace free in all ; 
that is, no way depending on any power or merit in man, but on God alone, Avho 
freely gave us his own Son, and with him freely giveth us all things." But is it 
free /or all, as well as in all? To this some have answered: No, it is free only 
for those whom God hath ordained to life; and they are but a little flock. The 
greater part of mankind God hath ordained to death; and it is not free for them. 
Them God hateth, and therefore, before they were born, decreed they should die 
eternally ; because so was his good pleasure, his sovereign will. Accordingly, they 
are born for this : to be destroyed body and soul in hell ; and they grow up under 
the irrevocable curse of God, without any possibility of redemption." 

"But," one says, "this is not the predestination which I 
hold — I hold only the election of grace. What I believe is no 
more than this: that God, before the foundation of the world, 
did elect a certain number of men to be justified, sanctified, and 
glorified. Now, all these will be saved, and none else." You do 

* Numbered CXXIV. in Series of Sermons: preached in Bristol, 1740. 
13 



194 



History of Methodism. 



not hold any decree of reprobation; yon do not think God de- 
crees any man to be damned; yon only say: "God eternally de- 
creed that all being dead in sin, he would say to some of the dry 
bones, Live, and to others he would not. That consequently 
these should be made alive, and those abide in death; these 
should glorify God by their salvation, and those by their destruc- 
tion." Says the preacher: 

If this is what you mean "by the election of grace," I would ask one or two 
questions: Are any who are not thus elected saved? Is it possible any man should 
be saved unless he be thus elected? If you say "No," you are but where you was 
— you still believe that in consequence of an unchangeable, irresistible decree of 
God, the greater part of mankind abide in death, without any possibility of re- 
demption; inasmuch as none can save them but God, and he will not save them. 
. . So, then, though you may use softer words than some, you mean the self-same 
thing. . . Call it therefore by whatever name you please, "election, preterition, 
jn-edestination, or reprobation," it comes in the end to the same thing. The sense 
of all is plainly this : by virtue of an eternal, unchangeable, irresistible decree of 
God, one part of mankind are infallibly saved, and the rest infallibly damned; it 
being impossible that any of the former should be damned, or that any of the latter 
should be saved. 

Wesley then proceeds to state the objections to such a doctrine: 
It renders all preaching vain; for preaching is needless to them 
that are elected; for they, whether with it or without it, will infal- 
libly be saved. And it is useless for them that are not elected; 
for they, whether with preaching or without, will infallibly be 
damned. It takes away those first motives to follow after ho- 
liness, so frequently proposed in Scripture — the hope of fut- 
ure reward and fear of punishment, the hope of heaven and 
fear of hell. It destroys all motive to labor for the salvation 
of men, and all sense of responsibility for their spiritual and 
eternal welfare; for who can help or hinder against a fixed fate? 
It is full of blasphemy, he holds, since it represents our blessed 
Lord as a hypocrite, a man void of common sincerity: 

For it cannot be denied that he everywhere speaks as if he was Avilling that all 
men should be saved. It cannot be denied tliat the gracious words which came 
out of his mouth are full of invitations to all sinners. To say, then, he did not 
intend to save all sinners, is to represent him as a gross deceiver. You cannot 
deny that he says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden." If, 
then, you say he calls those that cannot come; those whom he knows to be un- 
able to come; those Avhom he can make able to come, but will not — how is it pos- 
sible to describe greater insincerity? You represent him as mocking his helpless 
creatures by offering what he never intends to give. You describe him as saying- 
one thing and meaning another. . . This doctrine represents the Most Holy God 



Siinnnary of Sermon on 'Tree Grace.'' 



195 



as worse than the devil — as both more false and more unjust. More /a/.sc, because 
the devil, liar as he is, hath never said he willeth all men to be saved; more un- 
just, because the devil cannot, if he "would, be guilty of such injustice as you as- 
cribe to God -when you say that God condemned millions of souls to everlasting 
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, for continuing in sin which, for want 
of that grace He will not give them, they cannot avoid. 

Haying slio^n the logical consequences of the doctrine in 
many directions, but at the same time not charging these prac- 
tical consequences npon those T^'hose lives disavow them — for 
many there be, says the preacher, who live better than their creed 
— Wesley indulges in a startling apostrophe : 

This is the blasphemy for which (however I love the persons who assert it) I 
abhor the doctrine of predestination — a doctrine upon the supiDOsition of which, 
if one could possibly suppose it for a moment (call it "election," "reprobation."' 
or what you please, for all comes to the same thing), one might say to oiu' adver- 
sary the devil: "Thou fool, why dost thou roar about any longer? Thy lying in 
wait for souls is as needless and as useless as our preaching. Hearest thou net 
that God hath taken thy work out of thy hands; and that he doeth-it much mere 
effectually? Thou, witli all thy principalities and powers, canst only so assault 
that we may resist thee ; but he can irresistibly destroy both body and soul in liell I 
Thou canst only entice ; but his unchangeable decree, to leave thousands of souls 
in death, compels them to continue in sin till they drop into everlasting burnings. 
Thou temptest ; he forceth us to be damned, for we cannot resist his will. Then 
fool, why gcest thoti about any longer, seeking whom thou mayest devour? Hear- 
est thou not that God is the devouring lion, the destroyer of souls, the miu'derer 
of men?" 

Wesley's sermon entitled ''Free Grace " was printed as a 12mo 
pamphlet in twenty-four pages. Annexed to it Avas Charles Wes- 
ley's "Hymn on Universal Eedem^Dtion," consisting of thirty-six 
stanzas, of which these two are specimens: 

A power to choose, a will t' obey. 

Freely his grace restores; 
"We all may lind the living way. 

And call the Saviour ours. 

Thou canst not mock the sons of men, 

Invite us to draw nigh, 
Ofier thy grace to all, and then — ■ . 

Thy grace to most deny I 

Copies of the sermon reached America, and Whitefield, with 
the assistance of Xew England friends, prepared a reply, which 
was published in Boston and in Charleston, and in London 
upon his arrival there. Wesley made only one objection to it. 
Whitefield not only tries to refute his teaching, but unnecessarily 



196 



Hlstonj of Methodism. 



makes a personal attack on Wesley's character, for which, the next 
year, he humbly begged his pardon.* Wesley believed and 
l^reached general redemption, but raised no objection to White- 
field's believing and preaching election and final perseverance. 
His friends wished him to reply to Whitefi eld's pamphlet. He 
answered: "You may read Whitefield against Wesley, but you 
shall never read Wesley against Whitefield." 

In a letter to his alienated friend, Wesley eays: " These things 
ought not to be. It lay in your power to have prevented all, and 
yet to have borne testimony to what you call ' the truth.' If you 
had disliked my sermon, you might have printed another on the 
same text, and have answered my proofs, without mentioning my 
name; this had been fair and friendly." 

Whitefield writes: "It would have melted any heart to have 
heard Mr. Charles Wesley and me weeping, after prayer, that if 
possible the breach might be prevented." Yet he could not help 
chiding "brother Charles" for aiding with his poetry that ser- 
mon in favor of the heresy of universal redemption. So soon did 
the powerful and persuasive verse of the poet of Methodism join 
with the logic of his brother in spreading the Bible truth that 
God, through the atonement of the Son and the influence of the 
Spirit, makes a bona fide offer of salvation to every one of the fall- 
en race, and if any man is lost it must be by his own fault. 

Come, sinners, to the gospel feast; 
Let every soul be Jesus' guest : 
Ye need not one be left behind, 
For God hath bidden all mankind. 

Preventing grace is given every one who will use it, to enable 
him to accept and comply with the terms of salvation — repent- 
ance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Universal 
redemption, therefore, does not imply universal salvation. In 
their free agency men may refuse life. To Whitefield it seemed 
that the doctrine of universal redemption, as set forth by Wes- 
ley, "is really the highest reproach upon the dignity of the Son 
of God, and the merit of his blood." He could not understand 
how any could perish for whom Christ died, for "how," he asks, 
" can all be universally redeemed, if all are not finally saved." 

^ Whitefield alluded to Wesley's drawing a lot on a certain occasion, and in 
such terms as to give rise, by the exaggeration of his enemies, to the monstrous 
falsehood that Wesley had tossed up a shilling to determine the great question 
whether he should believe and preach and print Calvinism or Arminianism. 



Separation Beficeen Wesley and Whiiefield. 197 



"Dear sir/' lie vrrites to T\>sley, '''for Jesus Clirist's sake, ccn- 
sicler liow you dishonor God by denying election. You plainly 
make man's salvation depend not on Q^o^'^ f ree grace, but on man's 
free icill. Dear, dear sir, give yourself to reading. Study the 
covenant of grace. Down with your carnal reasoning; " and then 
he prophesies Wesley "will print another sermon the reverse of 
this, and entitle it 'Free Grace Inder-d' — free, because not fi^ee 
to all; but free, because God may withhold it or give it to whom 
and when he pleases."' 

Howell Harris, that eminent lay preacher, who with AYliitefield 
had awakened and evangelized Wales, and who was greatly es- 
teemed and beloved by all 3Iethodists, took up the question and 
wrote to Wesley, telling him that preaching electing love brings 
glory to God and benefit and consolation to the soul. He adds: 
"O when will the time come when we shall all agree? Till then, 
may the Lord enable us to bear with one another! " 

Whitefield wrote from Bethesda to Wesley: 

O tliat God may give you a sight of his free, sovereign, and electing love I 
But no more of this. Why -will you compel me to write thus? "Why will you 
dispute? I am willing to go with you to prison, and to death ; but I am not will- 
ing to oppose you. Dear, dear sir, study the coTenant of grace, that you may le 
consistent with yourself. Besides, dear sir, what a fond conceit is it to cry up perfec- 
tion, and yet cry down the doctrine of final perseverance? But this and many 
other absurdities you will run into, because you will not own election ; and you 
will not own election because you cannot own it without believing the doctrine c f 
reprobation. "What, then, is tliere in reprobation so horrid? 

And yet later: "O that there may be harmony, and very inti- 
mate union between us I Yet, it cannot be, since you hold uiii- 
cersal redeyripfion. The devil rages in London. He begins noAv 
to triumph indeed. The children of God are disunited among 
themselves. My dear brother, for Christ's sake avoid all disputa- 
tion. Do not oblige me to preach against you: I had rather die."' 

Again, from Charleston: 

My Dear axd HoxoPvED Sie: Give me leave, with all humility, to exhort you 
not to be strenuous in opposing the doctrines of election and final perseverance. 
. . Perhaps the doctrines of election and of final perseverance have been abused ; 
but, notwithstanding, they are cliildren's bread, and otight not to be withheld from 
them, supposing they are always mentioned with proper cautions against the abuse 
of them. I write not this to enter into disptttation. I cannot bear the tliouglit 
of opposing you. . . Alas I I never read any thing that Calvin wrote. My doc- 
trines I had from Christ and his apostles. I was taught them of God; and as God 
was pleased to send me out first, and to enlighten me fii'st, so, I think, he still con- 
tinues to do it. 



198 



Hisforij of Methodism. 



They were both equally conscientious, i£ not equally logical. 
Whitefielcl wrote his " Letter to the Eev. Mr. John Wesley, in 
answer to his sermon entitled 'Free Grace,'" with the motto 
attached, " When Peter came to Antiocli, I withstood him to the 
face, because he was to be blamed." 

The "letter" is dated "Bethesda, in Georgia, December 24, 
174:0." He reiterates his reluctance to write against Wesley, 
protesting that Jonah could not go with more reluctance against 
Nineveh. "Were nature to speak," said he, "I had rather die 
than do it; and yet if I am faithful to God, and to my own and 
others' souls, I must not stand neuter any longer." On his re- 
turn to England in March, 1741, Wesley called on him, and says 
of the interyiew: "He told me he and I preached two different 
gospels; and therefore he not only would not join with or give 
me the right-hand of fellowship, but was resolved to preach pub- 
licly against me and my brother, wheresoever he preached at all." 
This threat was carried into effect. Soon the Tabernacle was 
built, not far away from the Foundry, and there Whitefield, with 
Cennick, Howell Harris, and others, good men and holy, preached 
Calvinistic Methodism. David and Jonathan are divided. Wes- 
ley writes: "Those wdio believed universal redemption had no 
desire to separate; but those wdio held particular redemption 
vv'ould not hear of any accommodation, being determined to have 
no fellowship) with men that were 'in such dangerous errors.' 
So there were now two sorts of Methodists — those for particular 
and those for general redemption." And this comforting phi- 
losophy he bases on the unwelcome fact: 

The case is quite plain. There are bigots both for predestination and against 
it. God is sending a message to those on either side. But neither will receive 
it, unless from one who is of their own of»inion. Therefore, for a time, you are 
suffered to be of one opinion, and I of another. But when his time is come, God 
will do what man cannot, namely, make us both of one mind. 

Emissaries of Satan w^ere not wanting to make the most of the 
breach. Wesley's journal gives an incident: 

A private letter written to me by Mr. "Whitefield having been printed without 
either his leave or mine, great numbers of copies were given to our people, both 
at the door and in the Foundry itself. Having procured one of them, I related 
(after preaching) the naked fact to the congregation, and told them: "I will do 
just what I believe Mr. Whitefield would were he here himself." Upon which 
I tore it in pieces before them all. Every one who had received it did the same. 
So that in two minutes there was not a copy left. Ah! poor Ahithophel! Ihi 
omnis effiisus labor/ (So all the labor 's lost !) 



A ToJcen of Indissoluble Union. 



199 



Tlie small men and the go-betweens were very bitter; tongues 
and pens were busy, and the prophets of evil saw Methodism 
coming speedily to naught. Bat the leaders loved and esteemed 
each other, and soon came to friendly interviews. Whitefield 
preached in the Foundry and Wesley in the Tabernacle, and, 
as the latter said, "another stumbling-block was taken out of 
the way." Good feeling was fully restored, and while each re- 
tained his opinions to the last, they agreed to disagree. When 
Whitefield died in America, and his will was opened in Lon- 
don, the last item in it was found to be: "N. B. — I also leave 
a mourning-ring to my honored and dear friends and disinter- 
ested fellow-laborers, the Kevs. John and Charles AVesley, in 
token of my indissoluble union with them in heart and Chris- 
tian affection, notwithstanding our difference in judgment about 
some particular points of doctrine." 

And while the trustees of the Tabernacle were arranging for 
the funeral, his chief executor came forward and informed them 
that he had many times said to Whitefield: "If you should die 
abroad, whom shall we get to preach your funeral-sermon? Must 
it be your old friend, the Rev. John Wesley?" And his answer 
constantly was, "He is the man." 

The chief agents of the Methodist Revival are parted for a 
season; each influencing a class not affected by the other. The 
living stream is divided : one branch, after refreshing and en- 
riching a dry and thirsty land, is absorbed and lost; the other, 
with well-defined and widening banks and deepening current, 
flows on. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Clirij>tian Fellowship Provided for— Bands, Love-feasts, Class-meetings — Origin of 
these Means of Grace — The Work Extends— Epworth — Wesley Preaches on 
his Fathers Tombstone; Buries his Mother — Newcastle — Cornwall — Disci- 
l^line — First Annual Conference — The Organization Complete. 

CHEISTIAN fellowship is a leading feature of Methodist 
economy. It was early provided for in the band-meeting 
and the love-feast, Avhere mutual edification is the object, and 
personal exj^erience the subject of discourse. The poet of Meth- 
odism was felicitous and fruitful in hymns for social worship. 
Of the pro]3ortionally large number on the "Communion of 
Saints " in Methodist hymn-books, Charles Wesley is the author 
of more than three-fourths. " The gift which He on one bestows " 
is thus participated in by all. 

The love-feast was taken, with little modification, from the 
Moravians, who had it from the agcqxe of the Primitive Church. 
Christians meet apart at stated times, and after eating the sim- 
plest meal together in token of good- will, light and love are j)ro- 
moted by conversation on the things of God, specially as related 
to personal experience. Bands also were introduced from the 
same quarter, and passed over into Methodism. This institute 
provided for a close fellowship. It required a subdi^dsion into 
small and select numbers. The band-meetings were always vol- 
untary, and never a test of Society-membership. "Two, three, 
or four true believers, who have full confidence in each other, 
form a band. Only it is to be observed that in one of these bands 
all must be men or all women, and all married or all single." 
The design is to obey that command of God by St. James: " Con- 
fess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you 
may be healed." In the rules laid doAvn very searching inquiries 
were allowed to be made of each other by the members, and very 
free disclosures of the interior life, as to temptations and deliv- 

■^Eules of the Band Societies, drawn up for !Metliodist Societies, Pec. 25, 173S. 
The Band Eules were continued in the Metliodist Discipline in America till the 
vear 1854, when they were eliminated by the General Conference of the M, E. 
Church, South. The General Conference of the (Xorthern) M. E. Church can- 
celed them in 1856. 
(200) 



Band-meetings and Class-meetings. 



201 



eraiices. Much cavil lias been indulged in, by ignorant friends 
and critical enemies, against the bands; but in vain has it been 
attempted to find in them either the principle or the evil of the 
Komish Confessional. Eichard Watson thus replies to certain 
objectors within the pale of the Established Church in his time: 

Whatever objection may be made to these meetings, as a formal part of disci- 
pline (though with us they are only recommended, not enjoined), the principle of 
them is to be found in this passage of Scripture. They have been compared to 
the auricular confession of the papists, but ignorantly enough, for the confession 
is in itself essentially different, and it is not made to a minister, but takes place 
among private Christians to each other, and is, in fact, nothing more than a gen- 
eral declaration of the religious experience of the "week, l^ov is the abuse of the 
passage in St, James to the purpose of superstition a reason sufficient for neglect- 
ing that friendly confession of faults by Christians to each other which may en- 
gage their prayers in each other's behalf. The founders of the national Church 
did not come to this sweeping conclusion, notwithstanding all their zeal against 
the confession of the Eomish Church. In the Homily on Eepentance it is said : 
" We ought to confess our weakness and infirmities one to another, to the end that, 
knowing each other's frailness, we may the more earnestly pray together unto Al- 
mighty God, our Heavenly Father, tliat he will vouchsafe to pardon us our infirm- 
ities, for his Son Jesus Christ's sake," 

The class-meeting came later, and is a distinctive outgrowth of 
Methodism. This means of grace connected pastoral oversight 
with Christian fellowship; it came when it was needed, provi- 
dentially. Wesley's itinerancy had begun. How could he watch 
oyer so many souls? In London, as early as 1741, there were 
over a thousand in the Society. The class-meeting is so im- 
portant that Wesley's own account of it is here given: 

But as much as we endeavored to Avatch over each other, we soon found some 
who did not live in the gospel. I do not know that any hypocrites were crept in, 
for indeed there was no temptation; but several grew cold, and gave way to the 
sins which had long easily beset them. AVe quickly perceived there were many 
ill consequences of suffering these to remain among us. It was dangerous to oth- 
ers, inasmuch as all sin is of an infectious nature. It brought such a scandal on 
their brethren as exposed them to what was not properly the reproach of Christ. 
It laid a stumbling-block in the way of others, and caused the truth to be evil 
spoken of. We groaned under these inconveniences long, before a remedy could 
be found. The people were scattered so wide in all parts of the town, from Wap- 
ping to Westminster, that I could not easily see what the behavior of each per- 
son in his own neighborhood was ; so that several disorderly walkers did much 
hurt before I was apprised of it. At length, while we were thinking of quite an- 
other thing, we struck upon a method for which we have cause to bless God ever 
since. I was talking with several of the Society in Bristol (Feb. 15th, 1742) con- 
cerning the means of paying the debts there, when one stood up and said: "Let 



202 



History of Methodism. 



every member of the Society give a penny a week, till all are paid." Another 
answered: "But many of them are poor, and cannot afibrd to do it." "Then," 
said he, "put eleven of the poorest with me, and if they can give nothing, I will 
give for them as well as for myself; and each of you call on eleven of your neigh- 
bors weekly ; receive what they give, and make up what is wanting." It was done. 
In awhile some of these informed me they found such and such a one did not 
live as he ought. It struck me immediately, This is the thing, the very thing 
we have wanted so long." I called together all tlie leaders of the classes (so we 
used to term them and their compauies\. and desired that each would make a par- 
ticular inquiry into the behavior of those whom he saw weekly. They did so. 
Many disorderly walkers were detected. Some turned from the evil of their ways, 
and some were put away from us. 

As tliis took u]} a gi'eat deal of the leader's time, and he had 
seldom a suitable j^lace to converse with the members x^ersonally, 
it was soon resolyed that the class meet in one x^lace at a given 
time, beginning and closing with song and prayer. This prac- 
tice l^ecame general, and gave efficiency and organization to the 
Wesleyan Societies. The leaders then met TTesley or his assist- 
ant at another time every week to report any cases of sickness or 
disorderly conduct, and to pay the steward of the Society the 
sum which had been received of the class. 

Thus class-meetings began. T\^esley writes: It can scarce be 
conceived what advantages have been reaped by this little pru- 
dential regulation. Many now experienced that Christian fel- 
lowshij) of which they had not so much as an idea before. They 
began to bear one another's burdens, and naturally to care for 
each other's welfare. And as they had daily a more intimate 
acquaintance, so they had a more endeared affection for eac^h oth- 
er. Upon reflection, I could not but observe, This is the very 
thing which was from the beginning of Christianity. The class- 
meeting was thus endowed with a xDastoral. financial, and devo- 
tional function. Long after a penny a week and a shilling a 
quarter" fell into disuse by the adoption of larger financial 
schemes among wealthier i^eople, the inquiry how their souls 
prosjDered, and giving suitable advice in every case, remained 
the chief business of the class-leader. •' Ye are my witnesses, 
saith the Lord."" Jesus is entitled to the praise, and every mem- 
ber to the benefit, of a work of grace in any souL The class- 
meeting not only strengthened the weak, it confirmed the strong, 
and trained and developed laborers for wider fields. At the 
first. Societies were of a general character; but at the opening 
of the Foundry, the distinct Methodist United Society (1739j 



"FoTin Societies in Every Place''' 



203 



was instituted; and this form of organization spread to Bristol 
and elseAvliere. The class-meeting began in Bristol (1742); and 
this closer organization scon obtained among the Societies at 
London and elsewhere. All organizations must have rules, and 
the Kules of the United Societies were framed and published at 
Newcastle (1743), and governed all. By and by society and 
class became synonymous terms, where one class included all 
the Society at a place. Some of the old members were at first 
averse to this new' arrangement, regarding it not as a privilege 
but rather as a restraint. They objected that there w^ere no such 
meetings when they joined the Society, and asked why they 
should be instituted now. Wesley answered that he regarded 
class-meetings not essential, nor of Divine institution, but mere- 
ly prudential helps, which it was a ^iij the Society had not been 
favored wdth from the beginning. " AYe are always open to in- 
struction," he said to these complainants, "willing to be wiser 
every day than we were before, and to change whatever vre can 
change for the better." 

The class-meeting has been the germ of thousands of Meth- 
odist churches. When, under the word, souls have been awak- 
ened in any place, or wdien, by immigration, a few^ Christians are 
thrown together, a class is formed. The pastor appoints the 
leader, who is in the pastor's stead during his absence. The or- 
ganization is simple and effective, at once bringing into play all 
necessary machinery. Weekly meetings and the fellowship that 
is involved are most helpful to those, in any state of knowledge 
or grace, who are trying to work out their salvation. The 
apostolic injunction of "assembling ourselves together" is ful- 
filled. Prayer-meetings and preaching and the sacraments fol- 
low, and the work expands indefinitely. 

"Form Societies in every place where Ave preach," was AYes- 
ley's motto. Where this had not been done, his remark w^as : "All 
the seed has fallen by the way-side; there is scarce any fruit re- 
maining." The first Societies passed readily into these classes, 
and thus was formed the primary and compact organism. 

About this time Whitefield wrote to Wesley: " My attachment 
to America will not permit me to abide very long in England; 
consequently, I should but weave a Penelope's web if I formed 
Societies; and if I should form them, I have not proper assist- 
ants to take care of them. I intend therefore to go about preach- 



204 



Histonj of Methodism. 



ing the gospel to every creature. You, I suppose, are for set- 
tling Societies everywhere." Dr. Adam Clarke says: 

Tt was by this means (the formation of Societies) that we have been enabled to 
establish permanent and holy churches over the world. Mr. Wesley saw the ne- 
cessity of this from the beginning?. Mr. Whitefield, when he separated from Mr. 
Wesley, did not follow it. What was the consequence? The fruit of Mr, White- 
field's labors died with himself; Mr. Wesley's fruit remains, grows, increases, and 
multijilies exceedingly. Did Mr. Whitefield see his error? lie did, but not till 
it was too late. His people, long unused to it, would not come under this disci- 
pline. Have I authority to say so? I have, and you shall have it. Forty years 
ago,I traveled in Bradford, the Wilts Circuit, with Mr. John Pool. Himself told 
me the following anecdote: Mr. Pool Avas well known to Mr. Whitefield, and hav- 
ing met him one day, AVhitefield accosted him in the following manner: "Well, 
John, art thou still a Wesleyan?" Pool replied: " Yes, sir; and I thank God that 
I have the privilege of being in connection with him, and one of his preachers." 
"John," said Whitefield, "thou art in thy right place. My Brother Wesley act- 
ed wisely — the souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in class, 
and thus preserved the fruits of his labor. This I neglected, and my people are a 
rope of sand." 

The watch-night dates back to 1740. The Kingswood colliers 
had been used to " watch the old year out" with riot and revel- 
ries, and now that a reformation had taken place in them, this 
their custom was reformed also. It was suggested by James 
Rogers, a collier noted among his neighbors for playing on 
the violin, but who, being awakened under the ministry of Charles 
Wesley, went home, burned his fiddle, and told his wife that he 
meant to be a Methodist. He became a faithful lay preacher. 
The people met at half -past eight; the house was filled from end 
to end; and "we concluded the year," says Wesley, "wrestling 
with God in prayer, and praising him for the wonderful work 
which he had already vn'ought upon the earth." The meeting 
soon became a favorite one, and was held monthly. Wesley 
writes: " Some advised me to put an end to this; but upon weigh- 
ing the thing thoroughly, and comparing it with the practice of 
the ancient Christians, I could see no cause to forbid it; rather, 
I believed it might be made of more general use. The Church, 
in ancient times, was accustomed to spend whole nights in prayer, 
which nights were termed vigilce, or vigils." Always watchful 
to promote the spiritual prosperity of his people, AVesley at a 
later day introduced into his Societies the practice of renewing 
the covenant on the first Sunday of every year. In many places 
the renewal of the covenant closes the watch-night service. 



Wesley Oimts his Mission at Newcastle. 



205 



During tlie next two years Wesley traversed many parts of the 
kingdom, preaching almost daily, and sometimes four sermons on 
the Sabbath. Helpers were raised up, and with this assistance he 
was able to maintain regular worship in connection with his vari- 
ous Societies, and at the same time to extend the work into new 
districts. While he was passing and repassing between London 
and Bristol, with continual deviations to Southampton, Leicester, 
Nottingham, Bath, and Wales, Charles Wesley was scarcely less 
active. It required the utmost efforts of the brothers to guard 
their people against Moravian stillness and Antinomianism on 
the one hand, and AVhitefield's doctrine of predestination on the 
other. By 1742 Wesley had not only formed numerous Societies, 
but saw more fruit of his labors rising up around him as able as- 
sistants. Twenty-three preachers were, during this year, regu- 
larly engaged as helpers, besides many local preachers. Ingham 
and the Delamottes, meantime, had been won over to " Moravian 
mysticism;" and it required all, and more than all, John Nelson 
could do in Yorkshire to keep the "German boar of stillness" 
from laying waste the vineyard in those parts. 

In May Wesley invaded the north. The power of the gospel 
as exhibited at Kingswood was equal to the wants of Newcastle. 
The opening of his mission at this point, where one of his strong- 
est churches was planted and an important center of operations 
established, deserves notice. The account exhibits all the ele- 
ments of the successful evangelist. His journal (1742) says: 

We came to Newcastle-upon-Tyne about six, and, after a short refreshment, 
walked into the town, I was surprised ; so much drunkenness, cursing, and swearing 
(even from the mouths of little children) do I never remember to have seen and 
heard before, in so small a compass of time. Surely this place is ripe for Him who 
"came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." At seven next [Sun- 
day] morning I walked down to Sandgate, the poorest and most contemptible part 
of the town, and, standing at the end of the street with John Taylor, began to sing 
the hundredth Psalm. Three or four people came out to see what was the matter, 
who soon increased to four or five hundred. I suppose there might be twelve or 
fifteen hundred, before I had done preaching; to whom I applied those solemn 
words: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; 
the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.'' 
Observing the people, when I had done, to stand gaping and staring upon me, with 
the most profound astonishment, I told them: "If you desire to know who I am, 
my name is John Wesley. A,t five in the evening, with God's help, I design to 
preach here again." At five, the hill on which I designed to preach was covered 
from tlie top to the bottom. I never saAV so large a number of people together 
either in Mo^rfields or at Kennington Common. 



206 



History of Methodism, 



On liis way southward the next month, Wesley passed through 
Epworth — his first visit for many years. Beginning on Sunday, 
he spent a few days in the neighborhood, preaching daily with 
uncommon tenderness and power. AVe quote from his journal: 

A little before the service began [Sunday] I went to Mr. Eomley, the curate, 
and offered to assist him either by preaching or reading prayers. But he did not 
care to accept of my assistance. The church was exceeding full in the afternoon, 
a rumor being spread that I was to preach. After sermon John Taylor stood in 
the church-yard, and gave notice, as the people were coming out: "Mr. Wesley, 
not being permitted to preach in the church, designs to preach here at six o'clock." 
Accordingly at six I came, and found such a congregation as I believe Epworth 
never saw before. I stood near the east end of the church, upon my fatlier's tomb- 
stone, and cried: "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteous- 
ness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." 

He returned to the same pulpit on Friday, and during the 
sermon "lamentation and great mourning were heard; God bow- 
ing the hearts of the people, so that on every side, as with one 
accord, they lifted up their voice and wept aloud." 

Wesley tells of the next day: "I preached on the righteous- 
ness of the law and the righteousness of faith. While I was 
speaking, several dropped down as dead; and among the rest, 
such a cry was heard, of sinners groaning for the righteousness 
of faith, as almost drowned my voice. But many of these soon 
lifted up their heads with joy, and broke out into thanksgiving; 
being assured they now had the desire of their soul — the forgive- 
ness of their sins. I observed a gentleman there who was re- 
markable for not pretending to be of any religion at all. I was 
informed he had not been at public worship of any kind for 
upward of thirty years. Seeing him stand as motionless as a 
statue, I asked him abruptly, 'Sir, are you a sinner?' He re- 
plied, with a deep and broken voice, 'Sinner enough;' and con- 
tinued staring upward till his wife and a servant or two, who 
were all in tears, put him into his chaise and carried him 
home." 

And he wound up the protracted meeting on Sunday evening: 
"At six I preached for the last time in Epworth church-yard (be- 
ing to leave the town the next morning), to a vast multitude gath- 
ered together from all parts, on the beginning of our Lord's Ser- 
mon on the Mount. I continued among them for near three 
hours; and yet we scarce knew how to part. I am well assured," 
writes Wesley, " that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire 



Epicorth CIi iircli-ijard- 



^ — Persecutions. 



207 



parishioners by preaching three days on my father's tomb than 
I did by preaching three years in his pulpit." 

All this was good news for his mother, then at his house and 
awaiting her "release," which occurred the following month. 
Standing by her open grave (in Bunhill Fields, opposite City 
Koad Chapel), he preached her funeral-sermon from the text: 
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the 
books were opened; . . and the dead were judged out of those 
things which were written in the books, according to their works." 
He says: "Almost an innumerable company of people being gath- 
ered together, about five in the afternoon, I committed to the 
earth the body of my mother, to sleep with her fathers. It was 
one of the most solemn assemblies I ever saw, or expect to see 
on this side eternity." 

Fierce persecutions occur about this time. The clergy stir up 
the people from their pulpits, and the houses of Methodists are 
mobbed, and their chapels torn down. AVesley, attending a 
church-service one Sunday in Staffordshire, makes this report: 

On Sunday the scene l.egan to open; I think I never heard so wicked a ser- • 
mon, and delivered with such bitterness of voice and manner, as that which Mr. 

E n preached in the afternoon. I knew what effect this must liave in a little 

time; and therefore judged it expedient to prejDare the poor people for what was 
to follow, that when it came they might not be offended. Accordingly, I strongly 
enforced these words of our Lord: ''If any man come to me, and hate n^t his 
father and mother, . . yea, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And 
whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my discijole." 

In a few days the Wednesbury mob took Wesley out of the 
house he was preaching in, carried him round and about for sev- 
eral hours with many threats of violence, but were strangely 
withheld, and returned him, at ten o'clock at night, to the place 
they took him from, as he says with no worse damage than a 
bruised hand and the loss of "one flap of his waistcoat." His 
brother met him soon after. " He looked," said Charles, " like 
a soldier of Christ; his clothes were torn to tatters; " a proof that 
Wesley's account of the loss of one flap of his waistcoat is a 
modest statement. Their temper of mind is exhibited in a hymn 
written by Charles Wesley after one of these tumults : 

Worship, and thanks, and blessing. 

And strength ascribe to Jesus ! 
Jesus alone defends his own, 

When earth and hell oppress us. 



208 



History of Methodism. 



The hymn for opening an Annual Conference, composed after- 
ward by Charles Wesley for that purpose, and sung on the first 
day wherever Conferences of itinerant preachers are held, shows 
the circumstances in which it had its origin and inspiration: 

And are we yet alive, 

And see each other's face? 
Glory and praise to Jesus give 

For his redeeming grace ! 

What troubles have we seen, 

What conflicts have we passed, 
Fightings without, and fears within, 

Since we assembled last! 

Charles visited Cornwall, the chapel at St. Ives at that time 
being the head-quarters of Methodism in the west. Here, as in 
Wednesbury, he found the clergy using their utmost efforts to 
stir up the people against the new sect. The consequence was a 
series of disgraceful riots, dangerous to the lives of the Method- 
ists and their ministers, and destructive of their property. Dur- 
ing those seasons of violence the "preaching-house" at St. Ives 
was gutted and the benches and furniture destroyed, the preach- 
er and congregation being savagely assaulted. The church-war- 
den at Pool, heading a mob, drove the preacher and congregation 
to the border of the parish ; then, leaving them there, he returned 
and rewarded his followers with drink in the ale-house at Pool, 
in consequence of which the following entry may now be found 
in the parish book: "Expenses at Ann Gartrell's on driving the 
Methodists, nine shillings." * 

How the Methodists moved on a place, when they meant to take 
it, is illustrated by the manner in which Cornwall was subdued to 
Christ. Charles Wesley remained preaching in every part of the 
mining region with great success, notwithstanding furious per- 
secution, until the first week in August (1743), when he returned 
to London. In less than a month his brother arrived at St. Ives. 
On this occasion John Nelson accompanied Wesley; his journal, 
therefore, affords information. Nelson set out from London for 
this journey in company with another preacher; they had but one 
horse between the two, and came through Oxford, and preached in 
the towns by the way. After preaching at Bristol and Bath, 
Nelson and Downes proceeded toward Cornwall with Wesley, 



* History of Wesleyan Methodism, by Geo. Smith, F.A.S. 



How Coriuvall was Subdued to Christ. 



209 



wlio was accompanied by Mr. Shepherd, who had been preaching 
in that quarter. They appear to have had a horse each; for 
Nelson says, " We generally set out before Mr. Wesley and Mr. 
Shepherd." Having reached St. Ives, Wesley's first care here, 
as in other places, was to make a thorough examination of the 
classes. He found about one hundred and twenty members; and 
near a hundred of these enjoyed peace with God. 

So soon as they were fairly at their journey's end, John Nelson 
went to work at his trade as a mason; and not long after, Downes, 
being taken ill of fever, was for a time laid aside. Wesley and 
Shepherd immediately began to preach, and were joined in these 
labors by Nelson in the evenings. These laborers in a short time 
spread the gospel most abundantly over the narrow peninsula of 
West Cornwall. 

What they endured in the prosecution of their mission may 
be seen from Nelson's journal. As soon as he had finished his 
job of work, he also fully devoted himself to preaching; and of 
this period he says: "All this time Mr. Wesley and I lay on the 
floor; he had my greatcoat for his pillow, and I had Burkitt's 

* Notes on the New Testament ' for mine. After being here near 
three weeks, one morning about three o'clock, Mr. Wesley turned 
over, and, finding me awake, clapped me on the side, saying: 

* Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer; I have one whole 
side yet, for the skin is off but on one side.' " Nelson continues: 
"We usually preached on the commons, going from one com- 
mon to another, and it was but seldom any one asked us to eat or 
drink. One day we had been at St. Hilary Downs, and Mr. Wes- 
ley had preached from Ezekiel's vision of dry bones, and there 
was a shaking among the people as he preached. As we returned, 
Mr. Wesley stopped his horse to pick the blackberries, saying: 
' Brother Nelson, we ought to be thankful that there are plenty 
of blackberries; for this is the best country I ever saw for getting 
a stomach, but the worst that ever I saw for getting food. Do the 
people think we can live by preaching?' " Wesley says that the 
last morning of his stay he was waked between three and four 
by a company of miners, who, fearing they should be too late 
for the five o'clock preaching, had gathered around the house, 
and were singing hymns. 

Fidelity and closeness of pastoral oversight was a feature of 
Wesleyan polity, as appears by very many journalized visitations. 
14 



210 



History of Methodism. 



Take these from the latter end of 1743. — At Bristol, Wesley- 
prosecuted a careful inquiry into the state of the Society by 
speaking with every member individually, and rejoiced to find 
them neither "barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our 
Lord Jesus Christ." " On the following days," he says, " I spoke 
Vvdth each member of the Society in Kingswood. I cannot un- 
derstand how any minister can hope ever to give up his account 
with joy, unless (as Ignatius advises) he 'knows all his flock by 
name, not overlooking the men-servants and maid-servants." 
About the end of the month he went to London, where, assisted 
by his brother, he made a similar visitation of the London Soci- 
ety; at the close of it he preached a sermon, and made a collec- 
tion of <£50 tov\'ard the expense of building the chapel at ]^New- 
castle. In 17^1:5 he carefully examined the Society in London 
one by one, and vrrote a list of the whole with his own hand, num- 
bered from one to two thousand and eight. In 1746 he repeated 
this operation, and wrote another list, in which the number was 
reduced to one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine. 

NorthAvard he moves early in 1741:. Arrived in Newcastle, be- 
tween three and four hundred miles from Bristol, after preach- 
ing in the town and in adjacent places, he read the rules to the 
Society, and commenced a careful examination of the roll. He 
was particular in this inquiry because of the great revival which 
had taken place a few months before. The result was that sev- 
enty-six had left the Society, and sixty-four were expelled. Com- 
ing to particulars concerning those expelled, we get an insight 
into the moral code, as well as discipline of those days. His 
journal tells us: "Two for cursing and swearing; two for ha- 
bitual Sabbath -breaking; seventeen for drunkenness; two for 
retailing spirituous liquors; three for quarreling and brawling; 
three for habitual, willful lying; four for railing and evil-speak- 
ing," etc. 

What of those withdrawn ? Wesley accounts for them, too, in 
his journal: 

I observed the nr.mber of those who had left the Society, since December, was 
seventy-six; fourteen of tliese (chiefly Dissenters) said tliey left it because other- 
wise their ministers would not give them the sacrament; nine more, because their 
husbands or wives were not willing they should stay in it ; twelve, because their 
parents were not willing; five, because their master and mistress would not let 
them come; seven, because their acquaintance i:)ersuaded them to leave it; five, 
because people said such bad th.ings of the Society; nine, because tliey would not 



Tlie First Annual Conference. 



211 



be laughed at; three, because they would not lose the poor's allowance; three 
more, because they could not spare time to come; two, because it was too far off; 
one, because slie was afraid of falling into fits ; one, because people were so rude in 

the street; two, because Thomas N was in the Society; one, because he would 

not turn his back on his baptism ; one, because we were mere Church of England 
men ; and one, because it was time enough to serve God yet. 

On liis return to London lie raised £60, to alleviate the suffer- 
ings of the persecuted Methodists in Staffordshire, whose houses 
could be known, as one rode along the street, by the broken doors 
and windows, and by other signs of violence. He visited Cornwall 
later in the spring. At St. Ives the preaching-house was demol- 
ished. The people had been excited to such frenzy against the 
Methodists that on hearing that the British Admiral Matthews 
had beat the Spaniards, they manifested their joy by tearing 
down the Methodist chapel. But at last the cause triumphed 
gloriously in Cornwall. 

It is time for another forward step — the first Annual Confer- 
ence. Wesley had been pursuing his itinerant course about five 
years. He had in connection with him as fellow-laborers forty- 
five preachers, including half a dozen ministers of the Establish- 
ment who cooperated with him. This number is exclusive of the 
local preachers throughout the country, of whom there w^as a con- 
siderable number. Societies had been formed in many of the 
principal towns from Land's End to Newcastle. The number of 
members is not known. There were nearly three thousand in 
London, and the aggregate number throughout the country must 
have been several thousand. The first Conference was a meeting 
of his "helpers," or lay assistants, and the pious clergymen who 
had sympathized with them. He requested the attendance of 
these persons, and has left on record his object for doing so: 

In 1744 I wrote to sev^eral clergymen, and to all who then served me as sons in 
the gospel, desiring them to meet me in London, and to give me their advice con- 
cerning the best method of carrying on the work of God. 

This original Conference was held at the Foundry, and began 
June 25th. There were present John Wesley, Charles Wesle}^; 
John Hodges, rector of Wenvo; Henry Piers, vicar of Bexley; 
Samuel Taylor, vicar of Quinton; and John Meriton, a clergy- 
man from the Isle of Man. Thomas Richards, Thomas Max- 
field, John Bennett, and John DoAVnes were the helpers, or lay 
preachers, present. 



212 



History of Methodism. 



On the day before tlie Conference commenced, besides the or- 
dinary preaching services, a love-feast was held; and during the 
day the Lord's Supper was administered to the whole London 
Society, now numbering between two and three thousand mem- 
bers. The sessions were held by adjournment from Monday, 
June 25t]i, till the end of the week. Great precaution was taken 
by Wesley in enacting suitable rules for the discussions of the 
Conference. It was decided " to check no one, either by word 
or look, even though he should say what is quite wrong; to be- 
ware of making haste, or of showing or indulging any impa- 
tience, whether of delay or contradiction;" that " every question 
proposed be fully debated, and ' bolted to the bran.' " 

Preliminaries having been arranged, and earnest prayer offered, 
the design of the meeting was proposed under three heads, 
namely: To "consider, 1. What to teach. 2. How to teach. 3. 
What to do ; that is, how to regulate our doctrine, discipline, and 
practice." Under the first head, a conversation was continued 
throughout this and the following day, which embraced the lead- 
ing doctrines of the gospel, such as justification, saving faith, 
imputed righteousness, sanctification, etc. : 

We began by considering the doctrine of justification; the questions relating to 
which, with the substance of the answers given thereto, were as follows: Q. What 
is it to be justified? A. To be pardoned, and received into God's favor, into such 
a state that if we continue therein we shall be finally saved. Q. Is faith the con- 
dition of justification? A. Yes; for everyone who believeth not is condemned, 
and every one who believes is justified. Q. But must not repentance, and works 
meet for repentance, go before this faith? A. Without doubt, if by repentance 
you mean conviction, of sin, and by works meet for repentance, obeying God as far 
as we can, forgiving our brother, leaving off evil, doing good, and using his ordi- 
nances according to the power we have received. Q. What is faith? A. First, a 
sinner is convinced by the Holy Ghost — " Christ loved me, and gave himself for 
me." This is that faith by which he is justified, or pardoned, the moment he re- 
ceives it. Immediately the same Spirit bears witness, "Thou art pardoned, thou 
hast redemption in his blood." And this is saving faith, whereby the love of God 
is shed abroad in his heart. Q. What sins are consistent with justifying faith? 
A. No willful sin. If a believer ivillfully sins, he casts away his faith. Neither is 
it possible he should have justifying faith again without previously repenting. Q. 
Must every believer come into a state of doubt, or fear, or darkness? A. It is cer- 
tain a believer need never again come into condemnation. It seems he need not 
come into a state of doubt, or fear, or darkness ; and that (ordinarily, at least) he 
mil not, unless by ignorance or unfaithfulness. Yet it is true that the first joy does 
seldom last long ; that it is commonly followed by doubts and fears ; and that God 
frequently permits great heaviness before any large manifestation of himself. Q. 
Are works necessary to the continuance of faith ? A. Without doubt ; for a man 



Basis of the Plan of Operations. 



213 



may forfeit the free gift of God, either by sins of omission or commission. Q. 
Can faith be lost but for the want of works? A. It cannot but through disobedi- 
ence. Q. Plow is faith made jperfect by works f A. The more we exert our faith, 
the more it is increased. To liim that hath shall be given. 

Then they took np discipline. The General Rules ^ were 
read, and by the time adjournment was reached they not only 
understood each other, but were of one mind and heart. The 
spirit and substance of the compact made between the founder 
of Methodism and his preachers are contained in the Rule of En- 
listment into the heroic order of itinerants, adopted at this first 
Conference : 

Act in all things not according to your OAvn will, but as a son in the gospel. As 
such it is your part to employ your time in that manner that Ave direct; partly in 
visiting the flock from house to liouse (the sick in particular) ; partly in such a 
course of reading, meditation, and prayer as we advise from time to time. Above 
all, if you labor with us in our Lord's vineyard, it is needful you should do that 
part of the work which we direct at those times and jalaces which we judge most 
for his glory.f 

The proceedings indicate that Methodism began not in a theo- 
retical but in an experimental faith; and this was made the basis 
of the plan of operations. Religion itself was the inspiring spirit 
of order. The inward and divine life created the external econ- 
omy, and not the economy the life. Experimental piety was the 
first in order, and discipline the second. Fiye days thus spent 
must have had a happy effect on the minds of such men. Wes- 
ley said of them: "They desire nothing but to save their OAvn 
souls, and those that hear them." 

The next Conference met at Bristol, with fewer "clergy" and 
more " preachers." " We had our second Conference," says Wes- 
ley, "with as many of the -brethren who labor in the word as 
could be present." On this occasion the theological doctrines 
mooted at the first Conference were carefully reviewed; the opin- 
ions then given, and the forms of expression in which they v/ere 
conveyed, were now very carefully scrutinized, and in some cases 
modified. The fidelity of the preachers also, in respect of the 

*"The Nature, Design, and General Kules of the United Societies, in London, 
Bristol, Kingswood, and NcAvcastle-upon-Tyne. Price one penny." 12 pages. 
This, the first edition of the " Kules," is signed by John Wesley only, and bears 
date of February 23, 1743. A second edition was issued, signed by both John and 
Charles Wesley, dated May 1, 1743. 

t This has been called sacramentum itinerarium, and is the same now as then. 



214 



Hlstoru of MetJiodism. 



rules that had been laid down, was considered, and suitable ad- 
monitions were administered. In regard to the suggestion that 
the Methodists might ultimately become a distinct sect, when 
their clerical leaders were no more, these servants of God de- 
clare: "We cannot with a safe conscience neglect the i^resent 
opportunity of saving souls while we live, for fear of conse- 
quences which may possibly or probably happen after we are 
dead; " assuming that the salvation of souls is of greater im- 
portance than the maintenance of any system of ecclesiastical 
order v/liatever. 

At the third Conference (1746) the call and the qualification to 
preach were carefully considered and defined; and this important 
item of Methodist economy was then determined as we now have 
it, in answer to the question, "How shall we try those who think 
they are moved by the Holy Ghost and called of God to preach? " 
At this Conference, also, the circuits were mapped out and first 
published — seven in number. 

From the germ -cell of the class-meeting up to the Annual Con- 
ference, the ecclesiastical economy has been evolved, and the 
organic structure is complete. The first provides for the recep- 
tion and supervision of members, the last for the reception and 
supervision of ministers. 

At an early day the question was asked: "Can there be any 
such thing as a general union of our Societies throughout En- 
gland?" It was proposed to regard the Society in London as 
the mother Church; and for every assistant in country circuits 
to inquire particularly into the state of his circuit, and send such 
information to the stewards of the London Circuit, who would 
settle a regular correspondence with all the Societies. It was also 
proposed that a yearly collection be established, out of which 
any pressing Society debts might be discharged, and any Society 
suffering persecution, or in real distress, might be relieved. The 
necessity and utility of bringing into vigorous operation the con- 
nectional principle appears to have been suggested to the mind 
of Wesley; and contemplating its effects, he exultingiy says: 
" Being thus united in one body, of which Christ Jesus is the 
Head, neither the world nor the devil will be able to separate us 
in time or in eternity." In the Annual Conference this bond of 
union was found. To it reports were made, from it rules and 
regulations emanated. Not only the esprit de corps of the preach- 



Development of Methodist Economy. 



215 



ers was fostered, but their ortliodoxy and pastoral fidelity were 
looked after. No doctrinal test was required for membership. If 
one desired " to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from 
his sins," he met the condition for entrance, and by keeping cer- 
tain rules he met the condition of continuance; and it may be 
safely asserted that no awakened soul following those rules will 
fail of coming to gospel light and liberty. The members might 
be Arminian or Calvinistic, they might favor Dissent or affect the 
Establishment — no question on those points was raised in the 
class-meeting or love-feast; the one thing was to help sinners to 
conversion and Christians to holiness. It was very different, 
however, in the case of preachers — they w^ere held closely to a 
doctrinal as well as an experimental standard. In the beginning 
of Methodism, the evil of dissentient if not heretical teachers 
was seen — clashing, and confusion, and contradiction. There- 
fore, one of the most important functions of the Annual Confer- 
ence is to see that the trumpet gives no uncertain sound. It 
began by inquiring what to teach, and it inquires, year after 
year, if the doctrine accepted is taught. Hence, such items as 
these occur in the early Minutes: "Q. Can we unite, if it be de- 
sirable, with Mr. Ingham? A. We may now behave to him with 
all tenderness and love, and unite with him when he returns to 
the old Methodist doctrine. Q. Predestinarian preachers have 
done much harm among us; how may this be prevented for the 
future? A. Let none of them preach any more in our Societies. 
Q. Do any among us preach Antinomianism ? A. We trust not." 
Whereupon a wholesome tract upon that subject was read and 
duly commented on in open Conference. 

By and by we see the Conference providing for the support of 
preachers and their families, for the superannuated, for educa- 
tion, for missions, for book and tract distribution, and, in a word, 
guiding affairs with united wisdom. This final development of 
Methodist economy ^ — destined to be repeated throughout all 
lands, and to be the most potent of assemblies — having been 
reached, henceforth we are to witness only such changes as 
grow^th makes in the spiritual body. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Metliodism in Ireland— Friendly Clergy— Hymn-making— Marriage of Charles 
AVeslev — Education— Kingswood School — Theological and Biblical: Using the 
Press— Making and Selling Books — Marriage of John Wesley, 

ANEW field was entered about 1747. Ireland was then em- 
inently a land of popery. Hearing that a Methodist Soci- 
ety had been formed in Dublin, John Wesley crossed the Irish 
Channel, and spent a few weeks in that city, preaching, exam- 
ining the classes, and strengthening the Society. On his re- 
turn Charles took his place in Ireland, and spent six months 
there, preaching with great power in many places. He was sur- 
prised at the kindness of his reception, at the absence of perse- 
cution. But so soon as the word began to take effect, so soon as 
the great door and effectual was open, the adversaries appeared. 
Nor was there any lack of them afterward. Instead of rotten eggs 
at long range, clubs were used, and many a scar and deep wound 
was received. This entry occurs in his journal in October: "I 
opened our new house at Dolphin's-barn, by preaching to a great 
multitude within and without. After preaching five times to-day, 
I was as fresh as in the morning." Something more civil than 
popish shillalahs occurred at Cork — a presentment by the grand 
jury: "We find and present," say they, "Charles Wesley to be 
a person of ill fame, a vagabond, and a common disturber of His 
Majesty's peace, and we pray he may be transported." They 
made the same presentment with respect to seven other Method- 
ist preachers, most of whose names they misspelled. Well 
might John Wesley pronounce this "memorable presentment" 
"worthy to be preserved in the annals of Ireland for all succeed- 
ing generations." Charles was in London when these enlight- 
ened Hibernians gave judgment concerning his character and 
declared him worthy of a felon's doom. He wrote a hymn of 
triumph on the occasion. 

John Wesley often visited Ireland, to the end of his life. 
Forty-two times he crossed the Irish Channel, and spent, in his 
different visits, at least half a dozen years of his laborious life 
among that people. There were difficulties, but success had a 
(216) 



Wesley and his Co-icorkers in Ireland. 



217 



peculiar charm, and true piety an apostolic flavor, in that land. 
To his long and frequent absences the leaders in London object- 
ed; but Wesley's prophetic answer was: "Have patience, and 
Ireland will repay you." An efficient native ministry was raised 
up; a distinct, though not an independent, religious connection 
was formed; so that the Irish Methodists had their own Annual 
Conference, became a distinguished part of the Wesleyan body, 
and have had the gratification of presenting to the Wesleyan 
itinerancy some of its most able and useful ministers. Among 
these may be mentioned Thomas Walsh, Henry Moore, William 
Myles, Walter Griffith, Gideon Ousley, and Adam Clarke, to say 
nothing of those who are now serving their generation, by the 
will of God, both at home and in the wide field of missions. 

American Methodism is indebted for some of its best ministers 
and members to the Emerald Isle. Strawbridge, Embury, and 
Drumgoole were only the first installment of spiritual wealth- 
drawn from that source. In Ireland some of the richest tro- 
phies of Methodism were won, and there some of its rarest in- 
cidents occurred. "Swaddlers" the witty sinners dubbed the 
new sect. Cennick was preaching in Dublin on a Christmas- 
day. His text was Luke ii. 12 : " Ye shall find the babe wrapped 
in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger." A drunken fellow, 
who was listening at the door to pick up something by which he 
might ridicule this new religion, hearing the word " swaddling " 
often repeated, ran along the street exclaiming, "O these people 
are swaddlers, they are swaddlers!" The name quickly took, 
and became the badge of opprobrium through Ireland. Even 
the eloquence of Whitefield could not charm the rioters. Once 
he was near being killed outright. " I received many blows and 
wounds — one was particularly large and near my temples. I 
thought of Stephen, and was in hopes, like him, to go off in this 
bloody triumph to the immediate presence of my Master." He 
used to say, in speaking of this event, that in England, Scotland, 
and America he had been treated only as a common minister of 
the gospel, but that in Ireland he had been elevated to the rank 
of an apostle, in having had the honor of being stoned. In his 
American tours he often entertained friends with a history of 
narrow escapes from the mobs while preaching in the old 
country. A Virginia lady, who died at a great age, used to tell 
how he would catch her on his lap, saying: "Come here, my lit- 



218 



History of Methodism. 



tie girl," raising his wig and taking her hand, ^'here, put your 
finger in that gash — there is where the brickbat hit me." 

At the Annual Conferences from time to time a few clergymen 
are seen. Wesley sought their cooperation as a body with small 
success. On his fingers he might have counted those of the Es- 
tablished Church who helped him to inaugurate the religious 
revival. Of Meriton little is known. He was in Cornwall once 
when Charles Wesley was preaching "against harmless diver- 
sions," having three clergymen among his auditors. " By harm- 
less diversions," exclaimed the preacher, "I was kept asleep in 
the devil's arms, secure in a state of damnation for eighteen 
years!" No sooner were the words uttered than Meriton added 
aloud, "And I for twenty-five! " "And I," cried Thompson, "for 
thirty-five!" "And I," said Bennett, the venerable minister of 
the church, "for about seventy!" Hodges was the rector of 
Wenvo, in South Wales, and his heart and pulpit were always 
open to the Wesleys whenever they visited the principality. . The 
brothers often mention him in their journals, and always with 
respect and affection. He stood by them when they preached in 
the open air, and cheerfully bore a share in their reproach. 
Henry Piers, the vicar of Bexley, and his excellent wife, were 
both brought to the knowledge of the truth through the instru- 
mentality of Charles Wesley, and were cordially attached both 
to him and his brother. Some of John's early publications were 
written in Piers' s house, to which he retired as a quiet asylum 
from his public toils. Samuel Taylor was descended from the 
celebrated Dr. Kowland Taylor, who was forcibly ejected from 
his church in "bloody Mary's" reign; whom Bonner was about 
to strike with his crosier, and was only hindered by Taylor tell- 
ing him he would strike back. He was vicar of Quinton in 
Gloucestershire, and, like Wesley, went out into the highways 
and hedges, and was a sharer in the brutal persecutions of 
Wednesbury, and other places. The parents of Eichard What- 
coat, one of the first American bishops, belonged to Taylor's 
parish; and Richard, when a child, sat under his ministry. 

I a time Grimshaw, incumbent of Haworth, came on. He was 
converted through the labors of a Methodist, and so helped and 
cooperated with the intinerant preachers in his part of the coun- 
try that they were called "Grimshaw's preachers." He visited 
the classes frequently, attended and preached at the quarterly- 



Some of the Clergy ivlio Helped. 



219 



meetings, and lield love-feasts in the Societies. He maintained 
intimacy with the preachers, entertained them at his house, and 
built a chapel and dwelling-house for them at his own expense. 
The landlord at Colne complained that Grimshaw had preached 
in that town "damnation beyond all sense and reason," and that 
"every week, and almost every day, he preached in barns and 
private houses, and was a great encourager of conventicles." On 
account of his preaching excursions through his parish and be- 
yond it, and his outdoor, off-hand talking and praying, he was 
reported to his bishop by the clergy; but his lordship had too 
much policy or piety to deal hardly with the good man. Grim- 
shaw afterward observed to a party of friends: "I did expect to 
be turned out of my parish on this occasion, but if I had, I would 
have joined my friend Wesley, taken my saddle-bags, and gone to 
one of his poorest circuits." Four hamlets w^ere comprised in 
his parish. He preached in these villages monthly, in order to 
reach the aged and infirm. Frequently he would preach before 
the doors of such as neglected the parish worship: "If you will 
not come to hear me at the church, you shall hear me at home; if 
you perish, you shall perish with the sound of the gospel in your 
ears." Yincent Perronet was vicar of Shoreham, in the county of 
Kent. He entered fully into those views of divine truth which the 
Wesleys inculcated, and became a spiritual and holy man. Two 
of his sons became itinerant preachers; he wrote various tracts in 
defense of the "Wesleyan tenets; to him Wesley's " Plain Account 
of the People called Methodists" was originally addressed; and 
to the end of life he was the cordial friend and the wise adviser 
of John and Charles Wesley, under all their cares. 

The old Methodists were remarkable for their singing. Hap- 
py people love to sing. Naturally, the two brothers w^ere full of 
poetry; and religion fanned the fire into a holy fiame. Their 
taste in music may be gathered from Wesley's directions to the 
preachers: "Suit the tune to the words. Avoid complex tunes, 
which it is scarcely possible to sing with devotion. Ilepeating 
the same words so often, especially while another repeats differ- 
ent words, shocks all common sense, necessarily brings in dead 
formality, and has no more religion in it than a Lancashire horn- 
pipe." On one occasion he writes: "I was greatly disgusted at 
the manner of singing. Twelve or fourteen persons kept it to 
them.selves, and quite shut out the congregation." It has been 



220 



History of Methodism. 



estimated that during his life-time there were published no fewer 
than six thousand six hundred hymns from the pen of Charles 
Wesley only. While he was preaching two and three times a 
day, during the intervals of public worship he was engaged in 
the composition of hymns. When on his way from Bristol to 
Newcastle, says he: "Near Ripley, my horse threw and fell 
upon me. My companion thought I- had broken my neck; but 
my leg only was bruised, my hand sprained, and my head stunned 
— which spoiled my making hymns, or thinking at all, till the 
next day." He wrote that animated hymn beginning, 

See how great a flame aspires, 
Kindled by a spark of grace, 

on the joyful occasion of his ministerial success, and that of his 
fellow-laborers, in Newcastle and its vicinity. The imagery, 
doubtless, w^as suggested by the large fires connected with the 
collieries, which illuminate the whole of that part of the country 
at night. 

At Cardiff he writes : " My subject was wTestling Jacob. Some 
whole sinners were offended at the sick and wounded, who cried 
out for a physician. But such offenses must needs come." After 
preaching on the same topic at Gwennap Gap, that grand am- 
phitheater for field-preachers in Wales, and at the New Eoom 
in Bristol, and elsewhere, and being thoroughly saturated with 
the theme, he composed the hymn. 

Come, O tliou Traveler unknown. 
Whom still I hold, but cannot see. 

The venerable Dr. Watts, then ricli in years and honors, was 
too generous and pious to regard with envy the gifts conferred 
upon Charles Wesley. " Wrestling Jacob " is said to have espe- 
cially arrested his attention; and, with a magnanimity worthy of 
his character, he exclaimed, " That single poem is worth all the 
verses I have ever written! " 

At forty years of age Charles W^esley was married. Marma- 
duke Gwynne, of Garth, Wales, was one of Howell Harris's 
converts. His wife was one of six heiresses, inheriting each 
£30,000. Their mansion, with its twenty domestics and private 
chapel and chaplain, and nine children, would hardly be selected 
as the place for training the wife who first graced the itinerancy. 
" I expressed the various searchings of my heart in many hymns 



Marriage of Charles Wesley. 



221 



on the important occasion," says diaries. Seventeen liymns, 
wliicli lie wrote at tliis time, on the subject of his marriage, have 
been preserved in his neat handwriting. Preliminaries being 
concluded to the satisfaction of all parties, Wesley's journal tells 
the rest (April 8, 1749): "I married my brother and Sarah 
Gwynne. It was a solemn day, such as became the dignity of a 
Christian marriage." Charles's account is characteristic: 

Not a cloud was to be seen from morning till night, I rose at four ; spent three 
hours and a half in prayer, or singing, with my brother. At eight I led my Sally 
to church. My brother joined our hands. It was a most solemn season of love. 
I never had more of the Divine presence at the sacrament. My brother gave out 
a hymn. He then prayed over us in strong faith. We walked back to the house, 
and joined again in prayer. Prayer and thanksgiving was our whole employment. 
We were cheerful, without mirth; serious, without sadness. A stranger that in- 
termeddleth not with our joy said it looked more like a funeral than a wedding. 
My brother seemed the happiest person among us. 

Perhaps there was never a happier marriage. Small in per- 
son, cultivated in mind and manners, a sweet singer, she ac- 
companied her liasband in many of his long and rapid journeys, 
bearing with cheerfulness the inconveniences of an itinerant life, 
and also the scorn and violence of profane men, when he preached 
to them in the fields, highways, and other places of public resort. 
As she was greatly admired by him, he expressed a satisfaction 
perfectly natural in saying, "All look upon my Sally with my 
eyes." She went with him to Bristol, Bath, London, and several 
other towns, and was everjrwhere treated with the utmost respect 
as the amiable wife of one of the most useful men. According 
to the style of that age, she usually rode behind him on horse- 
back, meeting with adventures which she was accustomed to re- 
late pleasantly to the end of her very protracted life. 

Soon after his marriage, Charles AVesley rented a small house 
in Bristol, and on the first of September he and his vv^ife 
took possession of it, and commenced housekeeping. Beferring 
to its dimensions, he remarks it was " such a one as suited a 
stranger and pilgrim upon earth." Mrs. Wesley adapted herself 
readily to her altered circumstances, on leaving the ample man- 
sion of Garth, and taking up her residence in a humble cottage. 
She wrote with her own hand, in a manner the most neat and 
elegant, an inventory of the furniture with which they were pro- 
vided. This document has been preserved among the family 
records — proof of her care and economy and of the limited scale 



222 



History of Methodism. 



of tlieir establisliment. There they were accustomed to accom- 
modate the itinerant preachers. John Nelson, John Downes, 
William Shent, and other men of kindred spirit and habits, were 
among their frequent guests. To the end of her life she used 
to speak of them with considerable emotion, remarking that she 
never met with persons better behaved, or more agreeable in their 
spirit and manners. Divine grace supplied the fictitious aid of 
education and social culture. 

The death of their first-born, v/hen only a few years old, by 
small-pox, was closely connected with the dangerous illness of 
Mrs. Wesley from the same disease. After her recovery, her 
features were so completely changed that the most intimate 
friends could not recognize her countenance. Her husband 
showed the tenderness and strength of his affection by declaring 
that he admired her m.ore than ever. She was about twenty years 
younger than himself; and now that she had lost her beauty, she 
had also lost her very youthful appearance; so that the unseemly 
disparity between their ages was no longer perceptible. 

Following his rule, "We would not make haste — we desire 
barely to follow Providence, as it gradually opens," Wesley be- 
gan to provide for the education of the children of his preach- 
ers, and for Christian education generally. He "enlarged" the 
existing school at Kingswood, an unknown lady giving him X800 
toward defraying the expenses. The school for the children of 
the colliers was not closed. It continued to exist more than sixty 
years. But in 1748 another school, for another class of children, 
was attached to this, and really became the Kingswood School, 
so famed in Methodist annals — for above half a century Meth- 
odism's only college; one of Wesley's favorite haunts; the cdma 
mater of scores who did great service in Church and State; a 
homestead in which Methodism lingered till 1852. The visitor 
of to-day finds there a reformatory for vicious youth. Wesleyan 
pupils have been drawn away to ampler accommodations and more 
convenient localities at Bath, and Birmingham, and London. 

Some of Wesley's rules for Kingswood could have been made 
only by a man who had no boys and never had been a boy himself. 
His half dozen teachers, his housekeepers, his servants, and his 
pupils, with their parents, were a load to carry. " I wonder," he 
says, "how I am withheld from dropping the v/hole design; so 
many difficulties have continually attended it." But success was 



Education — Use of the Press — Wesley's Boohs. 223 



finally achieved; education by the Church was put on the right 
basis; and the Wesleyan educational systems, in both hemi- 
spheres, are the fruit of that handful of corn, waving like Lebanon. 

Among the questions asked at the first Conference, and an- 
swered apparently without any dissent, was this: " Can we have 
a seminary for laborers?" They were not yet ready; the an- 
sv/er was, "If God spare us till another Conference." Accord- 
ingly, at the next session it was asked, " Can we have a seminary 
for laborers yet? " "Not till God gives us a proper tutor," was 
the reply. It was easy to get teachers for Kingswood School; 
but to teach the teachers, to train the laborers, required peculiar 
moral and mental fitness. Money, though scarce, v/as more plenti- 
ful than such men. The question was a standing one, and by and 
by proper tutors were raised up among themselves — men who 
not only knew the doctrines but the economy of Methodism — 
trained in it and devoted to it. Some of the ablest were detailed 
to this service, and the well-endowed biblical and theological 
schools of England and America are the answer to Wesley's 
question a hundred and forty years ago. 

The Foundry provided a room for the publication and sale of 
books. This original book-room was a permanent feature. The 
Conference early ordained that every circuit was to be supplied 
with books by the Assistant. A return was to be made quarterly 
of money for books from each Society, and thus began that or- 
ganized system of book and tract distribution which has secured 
to Methodism an extensive use of the religious press. 

One of the most successful means adopted by the Wesleys for 
promoting religion v/as the publication, in a cheap and popular 
form, of interesting and instructive books. Before he vxnt to 
Georgia, John Wesley published a single sermon, besides a revised 
edition of Kempis's " Christian Pattern." Later, he entered upon 
a coarse of literary labor of the most gigantic kind, in connec- 
tion with his traveling, preaching, and pastoral care. At an early 
period he sent forth three volumes of sermons, explaining the 
leading doctrines which he had been accustomed to preach. In 
providing cheap literature, he anticipated modern times by many 
years; and in this kind of service he labored almost alone for 
nearly half a century. Moral and sacred poetry he recommend- 
ed, and published selections of this kind in three volumes; and 
portable editions of Milton and Young, with notes explaining 



224 



History of Methodism. 



the difficult passages, and directing attention to the finest para- 
graphs. He published, in a quarto volume, an amended trans- 
lation o£ the New Testament, with explanatory notes, remarkable 
for spirit aality, terseness, and point. A similar work, but less 
original and much less successful, he published on the Old Testa- 
ment in three quarto volumes. 

Most of Wesley's publications were small and cheap; but they 
had an immense circulation, and not only paid expenses, but left 
a profit. In a sermon, written in the year 1780, he apologetically 
lemarks: "Two and forty years ago, having a desire to furnish 
poor people with cheaper, shorter, and plainer books than any 
I had seen, I wrote many small tracts, generally a penny apiece; 
and afterward several larger. Some of these had such a sale 
as I never thought of, and, by this means, I unawares became 
rich. But I never desired or endeavored after it. And now that 
it is come upon me unawares, I lay up no treasures upon earth; 
I lay up nothing at all. I cannot help leaving my books behind 
me whenever God calls me hence; but, in every other respect, 
my own hands will be my executors." Such was Wesley's char- 
itable use of this source of income that it is estimated he gave 
away in the course of his life more than a hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. In his "Appeal to Men of Reason and Relig- 
ion," he said: "Hear ye this, all you who have discovered the 
treasures which I am to leave behind me: If I leave behind me 
ten pounds (above my debts and my books, or what may happen 
to be due on the account of them), you and all mankind bear 
witness against me that I have died a thief and a robber." The 
state of his affairs at his death justified this pledge. 

The son, if not wiser, was more practical than the father. 
Compare Dissertationes in Lihrum Jobi — that six hundred page 
folio, in Latin, which not one man in a million has read — with the 
series issued by the founder of Methodism called "A Christian 
Library," consisting of extracts and abridgments of the choicest 
pieces of practical divinity which have been published in the 
English tongue, in fifty volumes. This work was begun in 1749, 
and completed in 1755. Folios and quartos had to be reduced 
to 12mo volumes. Some were abridged on horseback, and others 
at way-side inns and houses where Wesley tarried for a night. 
Such an enterprise had never before been attempted. It was an 
effort to make the masses — his own Societies in particular — ac- 



Grace Murray. 



225 



quainted with the noblest men of the Christian ages. His 
design was to leave out whatever might be deemed objection- 
able in sentiment, and superfluous in language; to divest prac- 
tical theology of technicalities and unnecessary digressions; 
and to separate evangelical truth from Pelagian and Calvinistic 
error. 

Independently of his own works, which occupy fourteen large 
octavo volumes, John Wesley abridged, revised, and printed no 
fewer than one hundred and seventeen distinct publications, 
reckoning his " Christian Library," his histories, and his philoso- 
phy, as only one each ; and the brothers, separately and unitedly, 
published forty-seven poetical tracts and volumes, most of which 
were the compositions of Charles Wesley, and adapted to the 
use of public, domestic, and private devotion.* 

Charles Wesley's happy marriage appears to have been the 
means of deepening his brother's conviction that it is not good 
for man to be alone, and of inducing him to form the resolution 
of entering into the same state. The object of his choice was a 
widow, Grace Murray. She was among the first converts at the 
Foundry, but being a native of Newcastle^ Wesley had employed 
her there to superintend the orphan -house and regulate the 
female classes. Her ability to be useful and her zeal recom- 
mended her to wider services. Of very humble origin, she is 
described as "possessed of superior personal accomplishments, 
with a mind cultivated by education, and an imagination lively 
in a high degree." Wesley used to call her his right-hand. He 
proposed marriage to her. She declared her readiness to ac- 
company him to the ends of the earth, and confessed that the 
honor of being thus allied to him was a distinction for which she 
had not dared to hope. But he was busy going far and wide, 
and delays happened and hinderances. Many in the Societies of 
London and Bristol disapproved. Grace Murray was not equal 
to such a queenly position, in their opinion. The preachers, not 
knowing how much Wesley's heart was in the matter, interfered. 
They thought such a marriage would be a mesalliance — calculated 
to injure their leader's influence with the general public — likely 
to give an advantage to his enemies, would create disaffection, and 
circumscribe his labors ; and so Charles, with the connivance of 
Whitefield and others, brought about a hasty marriage of Grace 

* Jackson's Life of C. Wesley and his Centenary volume. 

15 



226 



History of Methodism. 



Murray with John Bennett — one of Wesley's itinerants. They 
crushed the feelings of the man, in order to maintain the dignity 
and usefulness of the minister. How deeply they wounded him 
they realized when it was too late. Perceiving Wesley's trouble, 
AVhitefield wept and prayed over him, and did all he could to 
comfort him. The two brothers fell on each other's necks in 
tears. Wesley writes ( Oct., 1749 ) : 

The sons of Zeruiah were too hard for me. The whole world fought against 
me; but above all, my own familiar friend. Then was the word fulfilled: "Son 
of man, behold! I take from thee the desire of thine eyes at a stroke; yet shalt 
thou not lament, neither shall thy tears run down." The fatal, irrecoverable 
stroke was struck on Tuesday last. Yesterday I saw my friend (that was), and 
liim to whom she is sacrificed. . . But "why should a living man complain?" 

He had this interview with Grace Bennett three days after her 
marriage. For thirty-nine years they never met again: the meet- 
ing then was soon over; and he was never heard to mention her 
name afterward. 

Bennett soon became an Independent minister — embraced Cal- 
vinism — abused "Pope John," and after ten years died. One 
of his sons became the pastor of a congregation near Moor- 
fields. His widow returned to the Methodists, was useful as a 
leader of classes, and died at an advanced age.* 

For nothing was John Wesley more remarkable than the for- 
giveness of injuries, especially wdien he saw in the offender signs 
of regret. Charles knew that he had no gift of government, and 
supposed that his brother's marriage would be followed, as his 
own had been, by narrowing his itinerant field; and then the So- 
cieties would rapidly drift into Independency, and the revival 
movement cease. 

Wesley's next matrimonial movement precluded any inter- 
ference. On February 2, 1751, Charles's journal has this item: 
" My brother sent for me and told me he was resolved to mar- 
ry. I was thunderstruck, and could only answer, he had given 
me the first blow, and his marriage would come like the coup de 

■^This was the cruelest stroke of Wesley's mortal life. After liis death verses 
were found which he wrote to ease his heart. The first of twenty-eight we give: 

O Lord, 1 bow my sinful head ! 

Riehteons are all thy ways with man 
Yet suffer me with thee to plead, 

With lowly rev'renee to complain; 
With deep, unutter'd grief to groan, 
0 what is this that thou hast done?" 



Marriage of John Wesley. 



227 



grace. Trusty Ned Perroiiet followed, and told me the person 
was Mrs. Yazeille; one oi whom I had never had the least sus- 
picion." A fortnight later the London papers published the mar- 
riage of the Eev. John Wesley to a merchant's widow of large 
fortune. The large fortune consisted of X10,000 invested in 
three per cent, consols, and was wholly secured to herself and 
her two children. The general opinion at first was that she 
was "well qualified for her new position; she appeared to 
be truly pious, and was very agreeable in her person and man- 
ners." She understood that he was not to abate his itinerant 
labor; nor did he abate it. Two months after the marriage, with 
a sly hint at Charles possibly, Wesley wrote in his journal : " I can- 
not understand how a Methodist preacher can answer it to God to 
preach one sermon or travel one day less in a married than in a 
single state. In this respect surely ' it remaineth that they who 
have wives be as though they had none.' " 

His wife traveled with him for some time, but soon grew dissat- 
isfied with a life so incompatible with the convenience of her sex 
and the habits of her former life. Irritation came to be her 
chronic state, and when her mind was irritated, nothing could 
please her. The w^eather was either intolerably cold or hot; the 
roads were bad, the means of conveyance unbearable; the peo- 
ple by whom they were accommodated impolite; the provisions 
were scanty or ill prepared; and the beds were hard. Her hus- 
band's official duties — preaching, meeting classes, visiting 
the sick, regulating the Societies, carrying on an extensive 
correspondence, and writing constantly for the press — occupied 
so much of his time that he could not pay her all the attention 
she required. Unwilling to travel herself, she became equally 
dissatisfied with his habitual absence. At last her discontent 
took the form of a monomaniacal jealousy. She would drive a 
hundred miles to observe out of a window who was in the car- 
riage with her husband on his entering a town. At first her 
complaints were carried to Charles, but soon even he and his 
wife became objects of bitter hostility, so that her language to 
them was scarcely less severe than that applied to her hapless 
husband. Charles generally called her "My best friend," for 
no other person told him of his faults with half the vehemence 
and particularity which characterized her rebukes and admoni- 
tions. This significant sentence occurs in a letter to his wife: 



228 



History of Methodism. 



" I called, two minutes before preaching, on Mrs. Wesley, at the- 
Fomiclry; and in all tliat time had not one quarrel." 

The grayest feature of the business Avas her opening Wesley's 
letters, intercepting and interpolating them; giving some to his 
enemies, and publishing others in the public prints. In 1771 
she left his house, with the assurance that she would never re- 
turn. He knew not, he says, the immediate cause of her deter- 
mination, and adds: " Xon earn reliqui, non cUniissi, non revocaho'' 
■ — I did not forsake her, I did not dismiss her, I will not recall 
her. There was a patched-up peace, with various intermissions, 
and she died ten years afterward. With her children, Wesley's 
relations were affectionate and pleasant. Southey says of the 
Xantippe, who tormented him in such a manner by her out- 
rageous jealousy and abominable temper, that she deserves to be 
classed in a triad with the wife of Socrates, and the wife of Job, 
" as one of the three bad wives." 

Berridge, the quaint bachelor vicar of Everton — one of the 
evangelical clergy whose itinerant zeal was largely useful in 
founding Lady Huntingdon's Connection — wrote to the Countess 
concerning one of her preachers: "No trap so mischievous to the 
field-preacher as wedlock, and it is laid for him at every hedge- 
corner. Matrimony has quite maimed poor Charles, and might 
have spoiled John and George if a wise Master had not gra- 
ciously sent them a brace of ferrets." 

If it was not for Wesley to enjoy the comforts of married life, 
he had the opportunity to exhibit patience. During a domestic 
wretchedness of thirty years, he kept on his way of duty, unwav- 
ering; abated nothing of consecration; and, withal, an unruffled 
temper seems to have been joined to an unflagging energy. Hen- 
ry Moore, his biographer and intimate friend, records: "He 
repeatedly told me that he believed the Lord overruled this pain- 
ful business for his good; and that if Mrs. Wesley had been a 
better wife he might have been unfaithful in the great work to 
which God had called him, and might have too much sought to 
please her according to her own views." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Temporary Decay of Whitefield's Popularity; Visits Scotland; Third Visit to 
America — Morris's Reading-house in Virginia — Samuel Davies — Commissary 
at Charleston tries to Suspend — No Intolerance in that Colony — South Carolina 
Unfavorable for this — Whitefield Buys a Plantation; Preaching to Negroes; 
Chaplain to Countess of Huntingdon ; Among the Great. 

WHITEFIELD'S situation on his second return to England 
was not comfortable. The separation from the Wesleys 
was not all. His popularity seemed to have passed away; the 
thousands who used to assemble at his preaching had dwindled 
down to two or three hundred. Worldly anxieties were fretting 
him, and those of a kind which made the loss of his celebrity a se- 
rious evil. The Orphan-house was to be maintained; he had now 
nearly a hundred persons in that establishment who were to be 
supported by his exertions; he was above X1,000 in debt on that 
score, and he himself not worth £20. Seward, the wealthiest 
and most attached of his followers was dead, and had made no 
provision for the payment of a heavy bill on the Orphan-house 
account, which he had drawn, and for which Whitefield was now 
responsible, and threatened with arrest. He called it a trying 
time. "Many, very many of my spiritual children," says he, 
"who at my last departure from England would have plucked 
out their own eyes for me, are so prejudiced by the dear Messrs. 
Wesleys dressing up the doctrine of election in such horrible 
colors, that they will neither hear, see, nor give me the least as- 
sistance." But his popularity soon returned; there was no re- 
sisting the charm of his eloquence, and no denying the genuine- 
ness of his religion. Yielding to many invitations, he visited 
Scotland, where the Whitefieldian type of Methodism was more 
acceptable than the AYesleyan. His success in Scotland was, in 
some respects, greater than it had been in England. " Glory be 
to God," he writes, "he is doing great things here. I walk in 
the continual sunshine of his countenance. Congregations con- 
sist of many thousands. Never did I see so many Bibles, nor 
people look into them with such attention when I am expound- 
ing. Plenty of tears flow from the hearers' eyes. I preach 

(2?,9) 



230 Hhtory of Methodism. 

twice daily, and expound at private lionses at niglit, and am em- 
ployed in speaking to sonls under distress great part of the day. 
Every morning I have a constant levee of wounded souls, many 
of whom are quite slain by the law." In the great city churches, 
and on braes and hill-sides, and in public parks, AYhitefield had 
wonderful scenes — " equal to some in America." 

The partisans of the Solemn League and Covenant hardly en- 
dured the fact that he had not signed that formula, but they 
charitably considered that he had been born and bred in En- 
gland, and knew no better. He records: "The awakenings of 
peoj^le have been, in a good many, attended with outcryings, 
faintings, and bodily distresses; in many more the work has pro- 
ceeded with great calmness; but the effects in both sorts are alike 
good and desirable." One of their chief ministers says: "Never 
did I see such joyous melting in a worshiping assembly. There 
was nothing violent in it, or like what we may call screwing up 
the passions; for it evidently appeared to be deep and hearty, 
and to proceed from a higher spring." Inquiry-meetings, and 
societies for x^rayer and praise, increased amazingly. Preaching 
and expounding several times a day, Whitefield could not meet 
the eager desire of the multitude to hear the word. This is the 
report of the minister at Dundee: 

The Lord is a sovereign agent, and mar raise up tlie instruments of his glorv 
from what Churches or places he pleases; and glorifies his grace the more when 
lie does it from those Societies "whence and when it could be least expected. 
Though Mr. "Whitefield be ordained, according to his education, a minister of the 
Church of England, yet we are to regard liim as one whom God has raised up to 
witness against the corruptions of that Church; whom God is still enlightening, 
and causing to make advances toward us. He has already conformed to us, both 
in doctrine and worship, and lies oj^en to light to conform to us in other points. 
He is thoroughly a Calvinist, and sound on the doctrines of free grace, on the doc- 
trine of original sin, the new birth, justification by Christ, the necessity of imput- 
ed righteousness, and the operations of the Holy Ghost. These he makes his great 
theme, drives the point home to the conscience, and God attends it with great 
power. And as God has enlightened him gradually in these things, so he is still 
ready to receive more light, and so soon as he gets it he is more frank in declaring 
it. God, by owning him so wonderfully, is pleased to give a rebuke to our intem- 
perate bigotry and party zeal, and to tell us that "neither circumcision nor un- 
circumcision availeth any thing, but the new creature." 

Eeturning to the Tabernacle, and thence ranging about in En- 
gland for awhile, AVhitefield again visited Scotland, where the 
aristocracy especially received and honored him and his gospel. 



I 



WJiitefielcVs Third Visit to America. 231 

He received £500 on his first visit for tlie Orphan-house, and a 
large amount on the second. On his way to London, he was still 
# further encouraged by receiving letters from America informing 
him of the remarkable succcess of the gospel there, and that God 
had stirred up some wealthy friends to assist his orphans in their 
L'lte extremity. His journal records this timely mercy: "The 
everlasting God reward all their benefactors. I find there has 
been a fresh awakening among them. I am informed that twelve 
negroes, belonging to a planter lately converted at the Orphan- 
house, are savingly brought home to Jesus Christ." 

Late in 1744 he was again in America, where he spent four 
years. Though feeble in health, beginning in the Middle States, 
he took a circuit of fifteen hundred miles through the Northern 
and Eastern States, preaching with the old-time power. The op- 
position had organized: there were "testimonials," personal and 
official, against him, but to no purpose; the Lord was for him. In 
Maryland and Virginia the people flocked " as doves to the win- 
dows." As itinerating was his delight, and America a new world 
particularly pleasing, he now began to think of returning no 
more to his native country. " The door for my usefulness opens 
wider and wider," he writes. " I love to range in the American 
woods, and sometimes think I shall never return to England any 
more." The awakening of five or six years ago had not ceased. 
As he moves on southward, his journal says: 

TJie gentleman offered me £800 a year, only to preach among them six months, 
and to travel the other six months where I would. Nothing remarkable hap- 
pened during my way southward; but when I came to Virginia, I found that the 
word of the Lord had run and was glorified. During my i^reaching at Glasgow 
some persons wrote some of my extempore sermons, and printed them almost as 
fast as I preached them. Some of these were carried to Virginia, and one of them 
fell into the hands of Samuel Morris. He read and found benefit. He then read 
them to others; they were awakened and convinced. A fire was kindled; opposi- 
tion was made ; other laborers were sent for. 

This account may be supplemented by a Yirginia historian. 
Morris, a plain, devout man, obtained from a young Scotchman 
a volume of Whitefield's sermons. He invited his neighbors to 
come and hear him read them, and while he read many were 
convinced of sin. Thus, while Whitefield was passing in a flame 
of revival along the sea-board, an obscure brick-layer in the 
woods of Hanover was reading to weeping sinners the burning 
words that fell from his lips in Scotland. Had he known this, 



232 



Historif of Methodism. 



how eagerly would he have come and taught them the way of the 
Lord more perfectly! Morris read to his rustic congregation 
from other books, such as "Boston's Fourfold State," and "Lu- 
ther on Galatians." The excitement spread through the settle- 
ment; his house was too small to hold the crowds that flocked to 
his reading, and they determined to build a house " merely for 
reading,'' for none of them had yet attempted even public prayer. 
It was called " Morris's Eeading-house," and is forever connect- 
ed with the history of Presbyterianism in Yirginia. Eeports 
went far and wide of the scenes at the " Eeading-house," and 
Morris was invited to read his good books in various places. 
Thus the work extended with power through that portion of the 
country where priests and people had sunk into a cold and heart- 
less formality.^ 

Morris's hearers and himself, having absented themselves from 
church on Sundays, were called to account by the court, and 
took shelter under the name of Lutherans — as they knew no 
other, and Luther's book had been useful to them. Soon a Pres- 
byterian minister — Eobinson — came that way, and taught them 
that they were really Presbj^terians, and took them nominally 
under his care, and passed on; for he durst not tarry in that col- 
ony. Three years afterward (1746), Governor Gooch, of the colony, 
issued his proclamation forbidding, under severest penalties, the 
meetings and teachings of Moravians and Methodists. "How 
numerous these obnoxious dissentients may have been, or how 
far His Excellency succeeded in suppressing them, we have not 
the means of ascertaining." f 

The grateful people of Hanover raised a sum of money and of- 
fered it to Mr. Eobinson. J He declined it; they insisted; but he 
still refused. They found out where he Avould spend his last night 
in the county, and gave the money to the gentleman of the house, 
who privately placed it in his saddle-bags. In the morning his 
saddle-bags were handed him. Suspecting an artifice, he opened 
them, and behold! the money "was in the sack's mouth."' He 
told them he would take the money not for his own use, but to be 
devoted to the education of a poor young man of promise and 
piety, then studying for the ministr}^ "As soon as he is licensed," 
said Eobinson, " we will send him to visit you! You may now 



■^Bennett's Memorials of Methodism in Yirginia, f H^i^^^ks's Xarrative of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in Yirginia. % Bennett's Memorials. 



Samuel Davies. 



233 



be educating a minister for yourselyes." This young man was 
Samuel Davies. He appeared in 1747, with license from the 
General Court, to preach in and about Hanover at four meet- 
ing-houses." Great was the joy of the people, and the work was 
such as angels might approve. In a few years there were over 
three hundred communicants, including a number of negroes, 
forty of whom the young pastor had baptized on a profession of 
faith. He felt a deep interest in the slaves, and embraced every 
opportunity for giving them religious instruction. He says, in 
1755 : " The number of slaves that attend my ministry at partic- 
ular times is about three hundred." But the watchful guardi- 
ans of that attenuated form of the apostolic succession which had 
survived " Morris's Eeading-house," are to be heard from. We 
quote from one of their own authors: 

Mr. Davies, however, did not carry on his work without encountering opposi- 
tion. The officers of the government, who of course adhered to the Establish- 
ment, strenuously contended that his proceedings were illegal, inasmuch as the 
English Act of Toleration did not extend to Virginia. This position was denied 
by the Dissenters, who claimed equal rights with their brethren at home [England], 
and tlie matter was brought before the courts of the colony.*' 

The point was argued by Peyton Randolph, attorney-general, 
on one side, and by Mr. Davies on the other; and the Dissenter 
gained his cause by a majority of the court. When afterward, 
on the appointment of Princeton College, Mr. Davies visited 
England to solicit aid for the college, he obtained from the at- 
torney-general, Sir Dudley Rider, an official declaration that the 
English Act of Toleration Avas the law of Virginia. Armed with 
this opinion, on his return he resumed and enlarged his labors 
in the colony, and continued them until 1759 when, on the death 
of Jonathan Edwards, he was appointed President of Princeton 
College. This remakable man died at the age of thirty-seven. 

In North Carolina Wliitefield labored, but, as he says, " for too 
short a time, and little was done." Orphan-house troubles op- 
pressed him as he drew near to Georgia. His own words are, 
"At times they almost overwhelmed me." In Charleston he al- 
ways found friends, and he records : 

God has put into the hearts of my South Carolina friends to contribute liber- 
ally toward purchasing in this province a plantation and slaves, which I purpose 

*Ha\vks's Narrative of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia. 



234 History of Methodism. 

to devote to the support of Betliesda. Blessed be God! the purchase is made. 
Last week I bought, at a very cheap rate, a j)lantation of six hundred and forty 
acres of excellent land, with a good house, barn, and outhouses, and sixty acres of 
ground ready cleared, fenced, and fit for rice, corn, and every thing that will be 
necessary for provisions. One negro has been given me. Some more I purpose 
to purchase this week. An overseer is put upon the plantation, and I trust a suf- 
ficient quantity of provisions will be raised this year. 

On his first visit to Charleston, Whitefield was cordially received 
by Commissary Garden, who invited him twice into his pulpit, 
and assured him that he would defend him with his life and prop- 
erty, should the same arbitrary proceedings ever be commenced 
against him which Mr. Wesley, his predecessor, had met with in 
Georgia."^' But at the time of his second visit a great offense had 
occurred — the Methodists had taken to field-preaching, and White- 
field led them. He entered Charleston " in a blaze of glory " 
after filling a long list of outdoor and indoor appointments. 
The Commissary's fine church, St. Philip's, was not open to him 
any more. And this episcopal shadow undertook to do what the 
Bishop of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury never vent- 
ured upon — to suspend Whitefield. 

There was no Established Church in South Carolina, and never 
had been. The proprietaries of that colony had asked John 
Locke to frame the "fundamental constitution;" and he incor- 
porated into it freedom to worship God; no legal preference was 
given one sect over another. The document was approved in 
1669, and the original copy — in the handwriting of Locke, it is 
believed — is preserved in the Charleston Library. 

Another circumstance concurred to make the Commissary's 
closed doors and his wrath impotent. Admiral de Coligny 
had endeavored, the century before the English settlement in 
South Carolina, to establish a colony of his brother Protestants, 
the Huguenots, at Port Eoyal and Beaufort. That emigrant 
scheme failed, but the next did not. The favorite mistress of 
Louis XIV., Madame de Maintenon, was heard to say, "If God 
spares him, there will be only one religion in his kingdom." Ac- 
cordingly the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was signed at 

*A11 the colonies were considered as under the care of the Bishop of London ; 
and he was represented in each by a "commissary who supplied the office and juris- 
diction of a bishop in outlying places of the diocese." The power was very re- 
stricted. Dr. Blair, in Virginia, was the first commissary appointed for America^ 
in 1689. He held the office fifty-three years. 



Commissary Garden Tries fo Suspend Whitefield. 235 



Fontainebleau, 1685 ; all clinrches of the Protestants were closed, 
tlieir religious worship was prohibited, and their ministers re- 
quired to leave the country in fourteen days on pain of the gal- 
leys. This brought to Carolina, and especially to Charleston, a 
large number of Huguenots — than whom Continental Europe 
could not furnish a nobler race. Their family names may still 
be recognized in the annals of Church and State, and have espe- 
cially enriched Methodism — an intelligent, energetic, chivalrous, 
liberty-loving people. 

The existence of laws framed by John Locke, and the influ- 
ence of such principles as French Protestants represented, made 
South Carolina the last place in the world for the display of petty 
ecclesiastical tyranny. Not invited into St. Philip's Church, and 
refused the sacrament by the Commissary, Whitefield found plen- 
ty of room and welcome in other churches, and preached to the 
edification of multitudes. Whereupon he was cited to appear 
before the Commissary and four of his clergy to answer for the 
offense of having "officiated as a minister in divers meeting- 
houses in Charleston, in the province of South Carolina, by pray- 
ing and preaching to public congregations, and at such times to 
have omitted to use the form of prayer prescribed in the ' Book 
of Common Prayer.' " Whitefield took an appeal from the colo- 
nial to the home ecclesiastical court. It is claimed by some that 
the Court of Appeal treated the case as unworthy of notice; by 
others, that Whitefield neglected to prosecute the appeal. So it 
was, at the end of twelve months, Whitefield being absent in 
England, Commissary Garden proceeded: 

^Ye therefore pronounce, decree, and declare that the said George Whitefield, for 
his excesses and faults, ought, duly and canonically, and according to the exigence 
of the law in that part of the premises, to be corrected and punished, and also to be 
suspended from his office ; and, accordingly, by these presents, Tve do suspend him, 
the said George Whitefield; and for being so suspended we also pronounce, decree, 
and declare him to be denounced, declared, and published openly and publicly in 
the face of the Church. 

This, in 1741. Whitefield made twelve visits after that to 
South Carolina and Georgia, with increasing power and popu- 
larity. Garden in Charleston would have treated him as Caus- 
ton in Savannah did Wesley; but times had changed. On this 
visit, Whitefield found more friends than ever, and by Carolina 
help was enabled to keep Bethesda from sinking. The charter 



236 



History of Methodism. 



of the Georgia Trustees v/ould soon expire, and then he hoped, 
under better government, to do more for the Orphan-house. In- 
deed, he projected a classical school in connection with it, and 
made a beginning before leaving for the Northern States, where 
he closed his third American campaign. He says (September 11) : 

We saw great things in New England. The flocking and power 
lhat attended the word was like unto that seven years ago. Weak 
as I was, and have been, I was enabled to travel eleven hundred 
miles, and preach daily." 

His strength was giving way; indeed, he was sick and under a 
physician; but, according to announcement, a congregation had 
met to hear a sermon. This is his account: 

While the doctor was preparing a medicine, feeling my pains abated, I on a 
sudden cried: "Doctor, my pains are suspended; by the help of God, I will go and 
preach, and then come home and die ! " In my own apprehension, and in all ap- 
pearance to others, I was a dying man. I preached, the people heard me as such. 
The invisible realities of another world lay open to my view. Expecting to 
stretch into eternity, and to be with my Master before the morning, I spoke with 
peculiar energy. Such effects followed the word, I thought it was worth dying for 
a thousand times. Though wonderfully comforted within, at my return home I 
thought I was dying indeed. I was laid on a bed upon, the ground, near the fire, 
and I heard my friends say, "He is gone." But God was pleased to order it oth- 
erwise. I gradually recovered; and soon after, a poor negro woman would see me. 
She came, sat down upon the ground, and looked earnestly in my face, and then 
said, in broken language: "Master, you just go to heaven's gate, but Jesus Christ 
said, Get you down, you must not come here yet, but go and call some more poor 
negroes." I prayed to the Lord, that if I was to live, this might be the event. 

About this time, being much troubled with stitches in his side, 
he was advised to go to the Bermudas, for the recovery of his 
health. He accordingly embarked, and landed there March, 
1748. His daily preaching on the islands was an event in their 
religious history, and prepared the way for future missionaries 
to the slaves. His own account being taken for it, he was not a 
good negro-preacher, as every one acquainted with that business 
will see on reading it: 

Sunday, May 1. I preached twice with power, especially in the morning, to a 
very great congregation in the meeting-house; and in the evening, having given 
noticej I preached about four miles distant, in the fields, to a large company of 
negroes, and a number of white people who came to hear what I had to say to 
them. I believe in all tliere were nearly fifteen hundred people. As the sermon 
was intended for the negroes, I gave the auditory warning that my discourse would- 
be chiefly directed to them, and that I should endeavor to imitate the exa pi.- o." 
Elijah, who, when he was about to raise the cliild, contracted himself to its lenglli. 



Whitefield Preaching to Negroes. 



237 



The negroes seemed very sensible and attentive. When I asked if they all did 
not desire to go to heaven, one of them, with a very audible voice said, Yes, sir." 
This caused a little smiling ; but in general every thing was carried on with great 
decency; and I believe the Lord enabled me so to discourse as to touch the ne- 
groes, and yet not to give them the least umbrage to slight their masters. If ever 
a minister in preaching needs the wisdom of the serpent to be joined with the harm- 
lessness of the dove, it must be when discoursing to negroes. Vouchsafe me this 
favor, O God, for thy dear Son's sake ! 

May 2. Upon inquiry, I found that some of the negroes did not like my preach- 
ing because I told them of their cursing, swearing, thieving, and lying. One or 
two of the worst of them, as I was informed, went away. Some said they would 
not go any more. In my conversation these two days, with some of my friends, I 
was diverted much, in hearing several things that passed among the poor negroes, 
since my preaching to them. One of the women, it seems, said "that if the book 
I preached out of was the best book that was ever bought at London, she was sure 
it had never all that in it which I spoke to the negroes." The old man who 
spoke out loud and said "Yes" when I asked them whether all the negroes would 
not go to heaven, being questioned by somebody why he spoke out so, answered 
that the gentleman put the question once or twice to them, and the other fools 
had not the manners to make me any answer, till at last I seemed to point at 
him, and he was ashamed that nobody should answer me, and therefore he did. 
Another, wondering why I said negroes had black hearts, was answered by his 
black brother thus: "Ah, thou fool! dost thou not understand it? He means 
black with sin." 

After three months' stay, Whitefield left. " They have loaded 
me with provisions for my sea store, and in the several parishes, 
by a private voluntary contribution, have raised me upward of 
one hundred pounds sterling. This will pay a little of Bethes- 
da's debt, and enable me to make such a remittance to my dear 
yoke-fellow as may keep her from being embarrassed, or too 
much beholden in my absence. Blessed be God for bringing me 
out of my embarrassments by degrees! " Having transmitted to 
Georgia what was given for the Orphan-house, and dreading to 
go back to America in that season of heat, for fear of relapsing, 
he took the opportunity of sailing for England, and reached Lon- 
don in July, 1748. On Whitefield's return, he found himself in 
no very agreeable situation. His congregation at the Tabernacle 
was sadly scattered, and all his household furniture had been sold 
to help pay the Orphan-house debt, which yet was far from being 
canceled. 

His congregation was soon recruited, and a very unexpected 
door was opened to him. The Countess of Huntingdon, before 
his arrival, had ordered Howell Harris to bring him to her house 
at Chelsea, as soon as he came on shore. He went, and having 



238 



History of Methodism. 



preached twice, the Countess wrote to him that several of the 
nobility desired to hear him, and she desired him to be one of 
her chaplains. Lords Chesterfield and Bolingbroke were among 
his auditors at Chelsea, the Countess having invited those persons 
wdio stood most in need of repentance. The former compliment- 
ed the preacher with his usual courtliness; the latter is said to 
have been much moved by the discourse, and invited Whitefield 
to visit him. Such progress did serious piety make among this 
class of people that the cynical Walpole, in May following, 
wrote to a friend on the Continent: "If you ever think of return- 
ing to England, you must prepare yourself with Methodism. 
This sect increases as fast as almost any religious nonsense ever 
did. The Methodists love your big sinners, as proper subjects to 
work upon; and, indeed, they have a plentiful harvest." 

This introduces us to a new chapter in Methodism ; and as its 
messengers pass from the negroes to the nobility, and from Moor- 
field Commons to the drawing-room of peers, we shall have op- 
portunity to witness their fidelity. 

Whitefield visited Scotland the third time, in the autumn of 
this year, and it was not his last visit. From his leaving London 
to his reaching Edinburgh, he preached ninety times, to about 
one hundred and forty thousand people. At Lady Huntingdon's, 
he writes (October 11) : " For a day or two, her ladyship has had 
five clergymen under her roof. Her house is indeed a Bethel. 
To us in the ministry, it looks like a college. We have the sac- 
rament every morning, heavenly conversation all day, and preach 
at night. This is to lire at coioi, indeed." 

If true religion could by any means become fashionable, the re- 
sult would put ministerial fidelity to tests as severe as any that per- 
secution can invent. In Scotland the doors were open to White- 
field. "Saints," says he, "have been stirred up and edified; and 
many others, I believe, are translated from darkness to light, and 
from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. The good 
that has been done is inexpressible. I am intimate with three 
noblemen and several ladies of quality who have a great liking 
for the things of God. I am now writing in an earl's house, sur- 
rounded with fine furniture; but, glory be to free grace, my soul 
is in love only with Jesus." 

Not all the doors were open. The extremists there insisted 
on the divine right of presbytery as much as the extremists in 



In Scotland — Divine Right of Presbytery. 



239 



England insisted on the divine right of prelacy. In the synod 
of Glasgow a motion was made to prohibit or discourage ministers 
from employing Whitefield. The speeches in favor of the mo- 
tion made these points: He was a priest of the Church of En- 
gland; he had not subscribed the Solemn League and Cove- 
nant; chimerical scheme of the Orphan - house; want of evi- 
dence that the money collected by him is rightly applied; as- 
serting assurance of faith; and lastly, his being under a sen- 
tence of suspension by Commissary Garden, from which he had 
appealed to the High Court of Chancery, and made oath to pros- 
ecute that appeal in a twelvemonth, and yet it was never prose- 
cuted. 

On the other hand, the ministers who were against the motion, 
spoke in this manner: "I blush to think [said one] that any of 
our brethren should befriend a proposal so contrary to that mod- 
eration and catholic spirit which now is, and I hope ever will be, 
the glory of our Church. I am sensible that many things in 
the Church of England need reformation; but I honor her, not- 
withstanding, as our sister Church. If Bishop Butler, Bishop 
Sherlock, or Bishop Seeker, were in Scotland, I should welcome 
them to my pulpit." 

Said another bold Scot: 

Whether Mr. Whitefield's scheme of the Orphan-house be prudent or not, it is 
demonstrable it was honestly meant. The magistrates of Savannah published, 
three years ago, in the Philadelphia Gazette, an affidavit that they had carefully 
examined his receipts and disbursements, and found that what he had collected in 
behalf of the orphans had been honestly applied; and that, besides, he had given 
considerably of his own property. Lastly, with respect to the prosecution of his 
appeal, Mr. Whitefield exerted himself to the utmost to get his appeal heard, 
but could not prevail on the Lords Commissioners so much as once to meet on the 
affair; they, no doubt, thinking of Mr. Garden's arbitrary proceedings with the 
contempt they deserved. But, say some, Mr. Whitefield, being under a sus- 
pension not yet reversed, is now no minister." But for wliat was he suspended? 
Why, for no other crime than omitting to use the form of prayer prescribed in 
the communion-book, when officiating in a Presbyterian congregation. And 
shall Presbyterian ministers pay any regard to a sentence which had such a foun- 
dation? 

The motion was lost. Whitefield went on, preaching three 
and once as often as seven, times in a day. This could not last; 
want of sleep and loss of appetite and general debility ensued. 
"I am brought now," says he, " to the short allowance of preach- 
ing but once on week-days, and twice on a Sunday." He was 



240 



History of Methodism. 



not afraid of emotional religion nor ashamed of it, anywhere. 
Keporting the result of a preaching excursion where "we had 
not one dry meeting," he refers to a learned dry Calvinistic friend 
thus: "Had my dear Mr. Henry been there, to have seen the 
simplicity of so many dear souls, I am persuaded he would have 
said, Sit anima mea cum method istis.'' 

Whitefield is said to have preached eighteen thousand ser- 
mons during the thirty-four years of his ministry. The calcula- 
tion was made from a memorandum-book in which he noted down 
the times and places of his preaching. This would be something 
more than ten sermons a week. 

Wesley tells us that he preached about eight hundred sermons 
in a year. In fifty-three years, reckoning from the time of his 
return from America, this would amount to forty-two thousand 
four hundred. 

But the exhaustive outlay of Whitefield in delivering a ser- 
mon was greater than Wesley experienced. After preaching, 
both alike, instead of taking rest, were offering up prayers, in- 
tercessions, with hymns and spiritual songs, in every house to 
which they were invited. The history of the Church of Christ 
affords few instances of men thus incessantly employing their 
whole strength — as it were, every breath they drew — in the busi- 
ness of their sacred vocation. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Honorable Women not a Few — The Conversion of a Countess; Her Devotion to 
Methodism; Espouses the Calvinistic Side; Her Work — Chapels — Trevecca 
College — Dartmouth — Newton — An Archbishop Eeproved — Forced out of the 
Establishment — Her Death. 

SELINA SHIRLEY, Countess of Huntingcloi], was descended 
of an ancient and honorable house. Her husband, of the 
house of Hastings, was the ninth Earl of Huntingdon; and his sis- 
ters, Lady Betty and Lady Margaret Hastings, were women of ex- 
cellence. The Countess of Huntingdon was the Ladij Bountif ul at 
Donnington Park, and took less pleasure in the fashionable follies 
of the great than in ministries of charity among her dependents 
and neighbors. She frequently attended Fetter-lane Society. Her 
conversion followed that of her sister-in-law, Lady Margaret, who, 
spending some time at Ledstone House, a family estate in York- 
shire, was induced by curiosity to hear Ligham preach. The 
Methodist was invited to preach at Ledstone church, and became 
a frequent visitor at the Hail. The two sisters made an open 
profession of faith, and were ever bright examples of it. Li 1741, 
Ingham was married to Lady Margaret, twelve years his senior. 
The marriage was performed at the residence of her brother in 
London. The Countess assiired the Wesleys of her cordial sym- 
pathy with them. The first Conference, having been invited in a 
body, was received at her mansion in London, and Wesley preached 
on the text, " What hath God wrought ? " Piers and Hodges took 
part in the service; while Maxfield, Pichards, Bennett, and 
Downes sat around them, recognized as genuine though unor- 
dained embassadors of Christ. 

That a peeress of the realm should espouse and zealously sup- 
port a cause and a people everywhere spoken against, led her 
husband (who seems to have treated her with highest considera- 
tion) to bring about an interview with Bishop Benson, who had 
been his tutor. The bishop endeavored to convince her of the 
unnecessary strictness of her sentiments and conduct. In reply 
she pressed him hard with scripture, as to his own responsibil- 
ities; his temper was ruffled and he lamented that he had ever 
16 (241) 



24:2 



History of Methodism. 



laid liands on George Wliitefiekl, to whom lie attributed all this 
trouble, "My lord," was her reply, "mark my words: on your 
dying-bed that will be one of the few ordinations you will reflect 
upon with complacence." And the event verified the prediction. 
When near death, years afterward, the bishop sent ten guineas 
to Whitefield, as a token of regard and veneration, and begged 
an interest in his praj^ers. 

The Lord was merciful; and through this honorable woman, 
pure in life as she was exalted in character and station, the neg- 
lected rich and great had an opportunity to hear the gospel. Her 
house was turned into a chapel, both in London and at her 
country-seats, and there the Wesleys and Whitefield, with other 
ev.angelical clergymen — Eomaine, Herve}^, Hill, Shirley, Topla- 
dy, Yenn, Berridge, and Madan — expounded the word and ad- 
ministered sacraments. Lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses, 
who filled the parlors, heard faitliful warnings. The Duchess of 
Buckingham writes, in reply to an invitation: 

I thank your ladyship for the information concerning the Methodist preach- 
ers; their doctrines are most repulsive, and strongly tinctured with impertinence 
and disrespect toward their superiors, in perpetually endeavoring to level all ranks, 
and do away with all distinctions. It is monstrous to be told that you have a 
heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl on the earth. This is highly 
offensive and insulting, and I cannot but wonder that your ladyship should relish 
any sentiments so much at variance with high rank and good breeding."^ 

Lady Huntingdon was left a widow, in the thirty-ninth year 
of her age, and her husband showed his confidence in her judg- 

■^The author of the "Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon" (two vol- 
umes), from which our information is derived, tells of another person in high life 
who had an experience similar to "common wretches:" no other than the titled 
mistress of George II. " Mr. Whitefield's lectures to the 'brilliant circle' at Lady 
Huntingdon's were evidently as faithful as they were eloquent. The well-known 
Countess of Suflblk found them so. Lady Eockingliam prevailed on Lady Hun- 
tingdon to admit this beauty to hear her chaplain; he, however, knew nothing of 
her presence; he drcAV his bow at a venture, but every arrow seemed aimed at her. 
She jtist managed to sit out the service in silence, and when Mr. AVhitefield retired 
she flew into a violent passion, abused Lady Huntingdon to her face, and de- 
nounced the sermon as a deliberate attack on herself. In vain her sister-in-law, 
Lady Betty Germain, tried to appease the beatitiful fury, or to explain her mis- 
take ; in vain old Lady Lienor Bertie and the Duchess Dowager of Ancaster, both 
relatives of Lady Suffolk, commanded her silence; she maintained that she had 
been insulted. She was compelled, however, by her relatives who were present to 
apologize to Lady Huntingdon. Having done this with a bad grace, the mortifiei 
beauty left the ]3lace to return no more." 



The Countess of Huntingdon — Her Chapels. 243 



ment by leaving the entire management of liis children and their 
fortunes in her hands. Controlling her own time and large re- 
sources, she now began to give the gospel to the poor. Accept- 
ing the Calvinistic view, she found in Whitefield's Methodism the 
form of Christianity to which she devoted her life. Accompa- 
nied by her chaplains she made tours through the kingdom, when 
great congregations were gathered and preached to. She built 
churches at Bath and Brighton, wherein titled and noble visitors 
heard Methodist preaching, while they sought health and pleas- 
ure. Hannah More piqued herself on her attachment to the 
Established Church, and, by way of disproving the charge that 
she was a Methodist, wrote: "Had I been irregular, should I not 
have gone sometimes, during my winter residence at Bath, to 
Lady Huntingdon's chapel, a place of great occasional resort? " 

Horace Walpole heard Wesley at this Bath chapel, and his 
criticism on the preacher as well as on the house is of record: 
"Wondrous clever, but as evidently an actor as Garrick." As 
for the sermon: "There wwe parts and eloquence in it; but to- 
ward the end, he exalted his voice and acted very vulgar enthu- 
siasm." On one occasion Wesley, after preaching here, writes: 
" I know not when I have seen a more serious, a more deeply at- 
tentive congregation. Is it possible? Can the gospel have a 
place where Satan's throne is?"'^ 

Walpole called the Countess "The Queen of the Methodists." 
The scholarly and pious Yenu styled her better, "A star of the 
first magnitude in the firmament of the Church." This chapel 
was supplied with evangelical preachers of highest ability, each 
serving for a week or a month, or longer, and must more or less 
have leavened the class of people who resorted to Bath. From this 
pulpit the gospel sounded oat through a wide region, and reached 
the ears of those who seldom hear the plain-dealing messengers 
of truth. Occasionally one who came for the healing waters died. 
How the funeral of a Scotch earl was "improved," Whitefield 
tells: The corpse was taken to this chapel; house crowded; "three 
hundred tickets given out to the nobility and gentry;" proper 
hymns sung; the sermon followed; and for "five days together," 
says Whitefield, " we have been attending at this house of mourn- 
ing. Surviving relations sit around the corpse, attended by their 



*The Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon. 



244 



History cf Methodism. 



domestics and supporters, tvrice a day. Two sermons every day; 
life and power attend the word; and I verily believe many dead 
sonls have been made to hear the voice of the Sou of God." At 
the conclusion, the remains of Earl Buchan were shipped to 
Scotland; and the historian adds, "The young Earl of Buchan 
noY»^ became very conspicuous in the ranks of Methodism." 

This remarkable vroman purchased theaters, halls, and dilapi- 
dated chapels in London, Bristol, and Dublin, and fitted them up 
for public worshij). Numerous chapels were also erected by her 
aid throughout England, Wales, and Ireland. She mapped out 
the land into districts, and sent out evangelists from among her 
most successful adherents, to travel and to preach. She bore 
the traveling expenses of an active corps of able ministers, and 
kept them circulating through tlie kingdom. Her gifts for re- 
ligious purposes exceeded 8500,000. She sold her jewels to 
build chapels for the poor. Her aristocratic equipage and liv- 
eried servants were parted with, that she might save in order to 
give. It was at Lady Huntingdon's house that Lord Dartmouth 
became acquainted with Wesley and Whitefield. His open and 
earnest Methodism did much to help those who were suffering 
its reproach. John Newton, because of his connection with the 
Methodists, was refused ordination by the Archbishop of York, 
but Lord Dartmouth prevailed on the Bishop of Lincoln to or- 
dain him, and presented Newton to the vicarage of Olney. He 
patronized the college in America that is named for him, and 
contributed liberally to the Orphan-house in Georgia. To him 
Cowper alludes in his poem on Truth : 

We boast some rich ones wliom the gospel sways, 
And one w4io wears a coronet and prays. 

Newton, after giving to Wesley reasons, in his health and cir- 
cumstances, which forbade him to be an itinerant preacher, adds 
as the "weightiest difficulty: " "Too many of the preachers are 
very different from Mr. Grimshaw; and w^ho w^ould wish to live 
in the fire? So that, though I love the people called Methodists, 
and suffer the reproach of the world for being one myself, yet it 
seems not practicable for me to join further than I do." 

The vicar of Olney was instrumental in the conversion of 
Thomas Scott, a neighboring clergyman who took vows and en- 
tered into orders as godless a man as any in his parish. He tells 
how the work began that ended in giving to the Church an edi- 



Dedication of Trevecca House. 



245 



fying commentator, an industrious author, and one of the found- 
ers of the Evangelical party: 

In 1774 two of my parishioners, a man and his wife, lay at the point of death. 
I had heard of the circumstance, but according to my general custom, not being 
sent for, I took no notice of it till one evening — the Avoman being dead and the 
man dying — I heard that my neighbor, Mr. ISTewton, had been several times to 
visit them. Immediately my conscience reproached me with being shamefully neg- 
ligent in sitting at home within a few doors of dying persons, my general hearers, 
and never going to visit them. Directly it occurred to me that whatever con- 
tempt I might have for Mr. Newton's doctrines, I must acknowledge his practice 
to be more consistent with the ministerial character than my ov/n. He must have 
more zeal and love for souls than I had, or he would not have walked so far to 
visit, and supply my lack for care to those who, as far as I was concerned, might 
have been left to perish in tlieir sins. This reflection afiected me so much that 
without delay, and very earnestly — ^yea, with tears — I besought the Lord to forgive 
my past neglect; and I resolved thenceforth to be more attentive to this duty; 
which resolution, though at first formed in ignorant dependence on my own 
strength, I have, by Divine grace, been enabled hitherto to keej). 

By reading "The Force of Truth," wherein Scott details his 
experience and how he was brought to Christ, Wilberf orce is said 
to have been converted. Wilberf crce's " Practical Yiew " is cred- 
ited, in turn, with the conversion of many who gave character to 
the philanthrophy and Christian enterprise of his day. 

Lady Huntingdon's chapels so increased that she was led to 
provide a college for the education and training of preachers. 
Trevecca House, in South Wales, an ancient castle, Avas procured 
and fitted up, and opened for religious and literary instruction 
in August, 1768. Great preparations had been made. White- 
field preached the dedicatory sermon: "In all places where I 
record my name, I will come unto thee and bless thee." And 
on the following Sunday he preached to thousands in the college- 
court: " Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which 
is Jesus Christ." Describing the scenes of spiritual interest, 
and the unction upon sermons, exhortations, sacraments, and love- 
feasts, that attended the dedication, he writes: "What we have 
seen and felt at the college is unspeakable." The preparation 
of the college not only exhausted the available means of the 
Countess, but drew liberally upon het rich friends. Ladies 
Chesterfield and Glenorchy, and other devout and aristocratic 
persons, gave large help. John Wesley approved her plan. 
John Fletcher was the first president, and one of his converted 
colliers from Maclely Woods was the first student that entered 



246 



History of Methodism. 



the college. Joseph Benson, the commentator subsequently, was 
head master. The scheme was to admit only such young men as 
were truly converted, and meant to devote themselves to God's 
service. Students were at liberty to stay three years, during 
which time they were to have education and maintenance free, 
and a suit of clothes once a year. Afterward they might enter 
the ministry of the Established Church or any other Protestant 
denomination. Indeed, she seemed to encourage rather than 
discourage their taking orders in the Establishment, and exerted 
her influence to procure ordination and livings for them, think- 
ing thus to spread a revival influence where it would be most 
useful, and where approach by other means was slow and difficult. 

Trevecca for years was the head-quarters of the Calvinistic 
Methodists. It supplied their pulpits, and afforded important 
ministerial contributions to the Dissenters and the Established 
Church. The Countess resided there much of her time; it was 
convenient for the extended work which she was sustaining, and 
she could readily dispatch assistance from it to her many pul- 
pits. Horses were kept to convey students on Saturdays to dis- 
tant points, while nearer appointments were visited on foot. 
Frequently they went forth on remote "rounds" preaching in 
fields, barns, market-places, and private houses. The annual 
" commencements " were like Methodist camp-meetings. On 
one occasion a thousand and three hundred horses of visitors and 
guests were turned into a large field, besides what were stationed 
in neighboring villages, and a great number of carriages. A 
scaffold was erected at one end of the college-court, on which a 
book-stand was placed, and thence six or seven preached succes- 
sively, to attentive and lively congregations. A visitor speaks of 
three hundred people breakfasting together on the premises; of 
sermons, exhortations, sacraments, love-feasts, in English and 
Welsh; of "many very hearty amens, and a fervent crying of 
'Glory to God!'" 

Fletcher kept up his labors at Madely, and in the circuit he 
had formed around it; but he found time to superintend Tre- 
vecca. Benson describes his visits to the school of the prophets: 

Here it ^vas that I saw — shall I sav — an angel in Jiuman flesli? I should not 
far exceed the truth if I said so. Prayer, praise, love, and zeal — all ardent, ele- 
vated above what one vrould think attainable in this state of frailt}" — were the ele- 
ments in which he continually lived. Languages, arts, sciences, grammar, rhet- 



Christian Fidelity. 



247 



oric, logic, even divinity itself, as it is called, were all laid aside when he appeared 
in the school-room among the students. And they seldom hearkened long before 
tliey Avere all in tears, and every heart caught fire from the flame that burned in 
his soul. 

Closing these addresses, Fletcher would say: "As many of you 
as are athirst for the fullness of the Spirit of God follow me into 
my room." Two or three hours were spent there in such pre- 
vailing prayer as seemed to bring heaven down to earth. " In- 
deed," says Benson, " I frequently thought, while attending to 
his heavenly discourse and divine spirit, that he was so different 
from, and superior to, the generality of mankind as to look more 
like Moses, or Elijah, or some prophet or apostle come again from 
the dead, than a mortal man dwelling in a house of clay." 

A refreshing instance of Christian fidelity in high places is on 
record. The Archbishop of Canterbury, during one winter of 
fashion, had been giving balls and convivial routs at the archie- 
piscopal palace.* His wife "eclipsed all the gay personages." 
The Methodist Countess, through her titled relatives, " obtained 
an audience with his Grace of Canterbury," and respectfully but 
earnestly remonstrated. She was snubbed, and his Grace vio- 
lently abused those whom he was pleased to brand as Methodists 
and hypocrites. Lady Huntingdon then obtained an audience 
with the king, through Lord Dartmouth. George the Third, if 
not religious, was religiously inclined, and the archbishop soon 
received an admonitory letter: 

My Good Lord Prelate : I could not delay giving you the notification of the 
grief and concern with which my heart was afiected at receiving authentic infor- 
mation that routs had made their way into your palace. . From the dissatisfac- 
tion with which you must perceive I behold these improprieties, not to speak in 
harsher terms, and on still more pious principles, I trust you will suppress them 
immediately; so that I may not have occasion to sliow any further marks of my 
displeasure, or to interpose in a different manner. May God take your Grace into 
his almighty protection ! G. K. 

A large building in London, known as the Pantheon, which 
had been erected as a place of Sunday amusements in a wicked 
and very neglected district, fell into the Countess's hands, and 
was fitted up, like another Foundry, for a church. " My heart," 
she says, " is strangely set upon having this temple of folly ded- 
icated to Jehovah Jesus." Great expense was incurred, and 
great preparations made, and great preachers engaged. The 



Dr Cornwallis was then Archbishop of Canterbury. 



248 



History of Methodism. 



scheme moved off prosperously, with crowded congregations and 
gracious revivals; but a catastrophe was at hand. The avari- 
cious pluralist whose parish embraced the Pantheon — named 
Spafield's Chapel — put in his legal claims and pressed them. 
He claimed the right of nominating ministers to its pulpit, and 
of appointing a clerk whose salary should be paid by the pro- 
prietors ; of reading prayers and preaching and administering the 
sacraments there, whenever he wished; of receiving a stipend 
(X40 per annum) for appointing such Methodist clergy as the 
proprietors desired, for the chapel; that all the money collected 
at the sacrament and from sittings be under the control of his 
church-wardens; and, for due performance of this, that the pro- 
prietors enter into a bond of X1,000.* 

The chapel authorities not yielding to his terms, Sellen insti- 
tuted suit in the Spiritual Court of the Bishop of London, against 
the two clergymen officiating at Spafield's Chapel for irregularity 
in preaching in a place not episcopally consecrated, and for car- 
rying on divine worship there contrary to the wish of the minis- 
ter of the parish. Verdicts were obtained against them, the 
chapel was closed, and one of the finest congregations in Lon- 
don was dispersed. As a peeress of the realm, the Countess sup- 
posed she had a right to employ her own chaplains at any time 
and place, and she put them in the stead of the two suspended 
ministers. But Sellen, like another Sanballat, renewed the attack 
in the ecclesiastical courts against every clergyman she engaged 
to preach there ; and the verdict being against them, they discon- 
tinued their services. Harassed and obstructed, the Countess 
was obliged to take shelter under the Toleration Act. "In this 
case," she wrote, " I am reduced to turn the finest congregation 
not only in England, but in any part of the world, into a Dissent- 
ing meeting." Lady Huntingdon and her preachers were strong- 
ly attached to the Church of England; used its forms as far as 
practicable in worship, and preached its doctrines, and hoped to 
carry on a work of revival within its pale — ^if not helped, at least 
not prohibited; but that hope is at an end. Li creed and at heart 
she and her chaplains and co-workers were not Dissenters. But 
in order to protect her chapels from suppression, or appropria- 
tion by the Established Church, she had to avail herself, in 1779, 
of the law by which all religious societies that would not be sub- 



^' The Life and Times of Lady Huntingdon. 



Death of Ladij Huntingdon. 



249 



ject to tlie established ecclesiastical power, could control tlieir 
own chapels by an avowal, direct or virtual, of Dissent. Her 
" Connection" thus took its place among the Dissenting Churches, 
and that brilliant and powerful band of preachers whom she had 
kept circulating through the kingdom under the best advantages, 
stirring spiritual stagnation and enlightening darkness, among 
the high and low — Eomaine, Madan, Yenn, Berridge, Townsend, 
and others — ceased preaching in her chapels. 

When the lease upon Trevecca expired, the college was removed 
nearer the metropolis, and exists to our day as Cheshunt College. 
There John Harris, author of "Mammon," and other useful and 
evangelical scholars have been bred and labored. 

The Countess died at the age of eighty-four, uttering with her 
last breath : " My work is done. I have nothing to do but to go to 
my Father." She left her fortune for the support of sixty-four 
chapels which she had helped to build in various parts of the 
kingdom. 

The Lady Huntingdon Connection was in i^art absorbed by the 
Dissenting Churches, and went to revive " the languishing Non- 
conformity of the age;" but its greater result was the contribu- 
tion made, directly and indirectly, to the Evangelical, or Low- 
church, element in the Establishment, from which have sprung 
measures in legislation and in philanthropy that have signalized 
the past and the present century. 



CHAPTER XX. 



The Opening in the Colonies — Intolerance in Virginia — Patrick Henry on the 
Parsons — Tobacco — Whitefield's Sixth Visit — Strawhridge — The First Society 
and First Methodist Meeting-house in America — Orplian-house — The Founder's 
Comfort — Whitefield's Last Visit; his Death; his Will — Exeunt Omnes. 

THE ciirrent of emigration, set in motion by revolutions and 
persecutions in the Old World during the seventeenth cent- 
ury, distributed along the shores of the New very different pop- 
ulations. New England received earnest Puritans; New York, 
Dutch Eeformers; Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Presbyteri- 
ans and Quakers; the equal laws of Maryland invited a gener- 
ous population of different creeds; the Carolinas were enriched 
by Palatines and Huguenots; but Virginia was stinted to an ac- 
cession of bigoted Churchmen, who neither preached the gospel 
themselves nor allowed others to preach it. Numbers of cava- 
liers and loyal gentry flocked to the ancient Dominion, where 
toasts to the health of Charles II. were drank long before the 
Restoration, and where the Act of Toleration was not accepted 
for fifty years after William and Mary had been crowned. 

Whitefield's gown gave him a passport through Virginia, ex- 
cept, possibly, in a few places ; Devereux Jarratt was another Grim- 
shaw, and that scholarly and Christian man, Dr. Blair, a Scotch- 
man by birth, was for half a century the commissary. Doubtless 
there vvere other and similar mitigations of the moral influence 
which the execrable State-church system was calculated to pro- 
duce. A high authority says: "If we turn from the clergy to 
the laity, facts present themselves such as might naturally be 
supposed to exist under the ministrations of such a clergy. In- 
deed, it scarce admits of a doubt that between the two classes 
there was a mutual action and reaction for evil; each probably 
contributed to make the other worse." * 

We have seen how the Methodists and Moravians were warned 
off before they came in sight, and with what difliculty the Pres- 
byterians got a footing in the colony. The Baptists bore the 
brunt of persecution. " They were beaten and imprisoned," says 



^Hawks's is'arrative of the Protestant Episcopal Church. 

(250) 



1 



I 



Parsons — Tobacco — Patrick Henry. 



251 



Dr. Hawks, tlie historian of his Church, " and cruelty taxed its 
ingenuity to devise new methods of punishment and annoyance." 
But they stood it nobly. John Bunyan and Bedford jail were be- 
fore them, not to speak of a higher inspiration. They marched 
to prison, singing as they went " Broad is the road that leads to 
death," and preached to crowds through the prison-bars. 

About 1763, the covetousness and arrogance of the exclusive 
claimants of "apostolic succession" in Virginia Colony received 
a final blow from a quarter which themselves had invoked. A par- 
son's regular salary, besides house and glebe, was sixteen thousand 
pounds of tobacco. The crop of 1755 being short, the legislature 
passed an "act to enable the inhabitants of the colony to dis- 
charge tobacco debts in money," at the rate of sixteen shillings 
and eight pence per hundred weight — at the option of the debtor. 
Planters who had tobacco to sell got fifty or sixty shillings per 
hundred weight, and paid the parson at the rate of sixteen shil- 
lings and eight pence. This act applied to all other tobacco cred- 
itors as well as to ministers. Two years later, the croj) again fail- 
ing, the law was re enacted. The clergy appealed to the home 
government, and by the Bishop of London their complaints were 
brought before the king and council; and His Majesty denounced 
the law, and pronounced it null and void. Sustained by this dec- 
laration, the clergy sued to recover their stipends in tobacco; and 
the test case was brought in the county of Hanover. 

The case stood thus: Plaintiff (the clergy) claimed upon the 
old law, which gave sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco; de- 
fendant (the people) pleaded the act of 1757. To this plea plaint- 
iff demurred that said act had been declared, by the king in 
council, null and void. The court sustained the demurrer, and 
this was in effect a decision of the cause for the clergy. It only 
remained to inquire, by a jury, into the amount of damages which 
the plaintiff had sustained, and to render judgment. The coun- 
sel of defendant looked upon the result as inevitable, candidly 
said so to his client, and retired from the cause. In this des- 
perate stage of the matter, Patrick Henry was employed by de- 
fendant. It was his first case. Leaving law pretty much out of 
view, he played skillfully on the passions and prejudices of the 
jury, excoriated the lazy and greedy parsons, and poured torrents 
of eloquent denunciation upon the royal decision as indicating a 
wanton disregard of the true interests of a suffering people, and 



252 



Hlstorij of Methodism. 



a heartless contempt of their necessities. Waxing bolder, he de- 
clared that the king who disallowed and annulled laws of a sal- 
utary nature instead of being the father, degenerated into the 
tyrant of his people. The opposing counsel cried out, " He has 
spoken treason! " The bench, however, did not think so, and the 
advocate of the people x^roceeded without interruption in the de- 
livery of a philippic that made royally inclined ears to tingle. 
The jury, carried away by such extraordinary eloquence, returned 
a verdict for plaintiff of one pennij damages. The court, influ- 
enced as much as the jury by the fascinating power of the advo- 
cate, unanimously refused to grant a new trial; and this refusal, 
like the verdict, was received with shouts of acclamation by the 
crowd within and without the house. In spite of all efforts of 
officers to preserve order in court, the people seized Mr. Henry 
at the bar, raised him on their shoulders, and carried him in a 
triumphal procession about the court-yard. 

The Establishment went to pieces after that, though not all at 
once. Its power of using the civil magistrate to vex and hinder 
others survived, in some localities, its loss of public respect; so. 
that in a letter written in 1774, Madison, then a young man, thus 
refers to the condition of things in his vicinity: 

Pride, ignorance, and knaverv prevail among tlie priestliood, and vice and 
wickedness among the laity. This is bad enongh ; but it is not the worst I have 
to tell you. That diabolical, hell-conceived principle of persecution rages among 
some; and to their eternal infamy, the clergy furnish their quota of imps for sucli 
purposes. There are at this time in the adjacent county not less than five or six 
well-meaning men in close jail for publishing their religious sentiments, which, in 
the main, are very orthodox. 

Dissenters increased so rapidly that at the breaking out of the 
Revolution they were estimated at two-thirds of the population. 
The Methodists came in and began their work. In 1785 Jeffer- 
son's Bill for Religious Freedom became law. In 1801 an order 
was passed for the sale of all the glebes by the overseers of the 
poor as soon as vacated by existing incumbents, except those 
made as private donations subsequent to 1777. Thus were cum- 
berers of the ground cleared away, and a noble soil was prepared 
for a better growth. 

On his sixth visit to America, Whitefield reached Yirginia the 
same year Patrick Henry dealt the effective blow for disestab- 
lishment. "Whether the two orators, whose eloquence was serv- 
ing the cause of Christianity from different directions, ever met, 



Bohert Straivhridge — First Society and Church. 253 



we have no information. Astlima and other ailments were op- 
pressing the great preacher. One physician prescribed a j;<?r- 
petucd blister. "Bnt I have found," said he, iJerijetual iweaching 
to be a better remedy. When this great catholicon fails, it is 
oyer with me." 

To escape the summer heat, he passed on to the North, and 
seems to have spent the winter there, amidst the scenes of his 
former gospel -ranging. Next year, as he made his way to Geor- 
gia, if he had turned aside a little to the right from his usual track 
through Maryland, he might have heard the sound of axes and 
the felling and hewing of trees. The Methodists w^ere build- 
ing their first meeting-house in America. The people who were 
destined so largely to cultivate the AYestern Continent began 
their "clearing" in 1764, in the woods of Frederick (now Carroll) 
county, Maryland, thirty miles north-west of Baltimore. 

Eobert Strawbridge was born at Drumsna, county Leitrim, 
Ireland. " Drumsna is a clean, picturesque, and beautiful little 
village on the banks of the Shannon." ^- As early as May, 1758, 
Wesley preached there. Strawbridge was converted; went to 
Sligo, where he joined the Society, and was soon heard of as a 
preacher at Kilmore and elsewhere. Some noAv "fallen asleep " 
were accustomed to speak of him as " a man of devoted piety and 
considerable X3reaching abilities." Marrying a Methodist wife 
at Terryliugan — Miss Piper — he bid farewell to Ireland to find 
a home in the New World. He settled, probably in 1760, on 
Sam's Creek — then in the backwoods of Maryland — and opened 
his house for preaching. A log meeting-house was built a few 
years afterward, about a mile from his home. This cradle of 
American Methodism is entitled to minute description: Twenty- 
two feet square; the logs sawed for a door-way on one side, and 
smaller openings made on the other three sides for windows, and 
no regular floor. In this primitive chapel, which has had many 
su.ccessors in our land and Church, Strawbridge preached for 
many years. Although it had no "regular floor," it had a pulpit, 
for under the pulpit of the log meeting-house were buried two 
* of the preacher's little children. From this point the hearty and 
zealous evangelist itinerated into Eastern Maryland, Virginia, 
Delaware, and Southern Pennsylvania. Doubtless, he gathered 
not a little of the fruit where Whitefield had shaken the boughs. 



* Ireland and the Centenary of American Methodism, by Wm. Crook, D.D. 



254 



History of Methodism. 



He is described as " of medium size, dark complexion, black liair; 
had a sweet voice, and was an excellent singer." His more im- 
portant qualities may be read in liis work and history. 

The Sam's Creek Society, consisting at first of twelve or fifteen 
persons, was a fountain of good influence to the county and the 
State. It early gave four or five preachers to the itinerancy. 
Strawbridge founded Methodism in Baltimore and Harford coun- 
ties. The first Society in the former was organized by him at 
the house of David Evans,'^ near the city, and the first chapel in the 
county was erected by them. The first native Methodist preacher 
of the continent, Richard Owen, was one of his converts. He 
was long the most effective co-laborer of Strawbridge, traveling 
the country in all directions, founding Societies and opening the 
way for the coming itinerants.f 

Strawbridge was poor, and the family were often straitened for food ; but he was 
a man of strong faith, and would say to them on leaving, "Meat will be sent here 
to-day." The calls upon him to go to distant parts of the country to preach became, 
in course of time, so frequent and pressing that his family were likely to suffer in 
his absence, so that it became a question with him, "Who will keep the wolf from 
my door while I am abroad looking after the lost sheep? " Meanwhile, his friendly 
neighbors agreed to cultivate his little farm without charge, and to see that his 
\Yife and children wanted for nothing during his absence. In this way this zeal- 
ous servant of Christ continued to labor in different parts of Frederick, and through- 
out the length and breadth of Baltimore county, breaking up new ground, form- 
ing new Societies, and establishing permanent places for preaching — God working 
through him by the Avord which he preached. It is delightful to look back, after 
a lapse of ninety years and upward, and recount one by one the long list of those 
who could claim this primitive missionary as the instrument of their salvation, 
many of them persons of intelligence and of influence in the communities in which 
they lived, joining themselves first to Christ, and then devoting their substance to 
build up a godly seed for generations following ; and of these we recur with feelings 
of satisfaction to the parents of the late Dr. Thomas E. Bond. .]: 

Continuing his journey southward through Virginia and Car- 
olina, Whitefield pauses at New Berne, where "good impressions 
were made." " This, with every other place, being open and ex- 
ceedingly desirous to hear the gospel," he says, " makes me almost 
determined to come back early in the spring.' ' Having preached in 
Charleston, he once more arrived at Savannah, and had the happi-* 

* David Evans said that, " about the year 1764, he embraced the Methodist re- 
ligion under Mr. Strawbridge." (Dr. Hamilton's Discourse on " Early Methodism" 
in Maryland.") 

t History of Methodist E. Church, by Dr. Stevens. J Dr. Hamilton, 1856. 



The Georgia Orphan-house and College. 



255 



ness to find the state of the colony as prosperous as he could wish. 
" The colony," says he, "is rising fast; nothing but plenty at Be- 
thesda; and all arrears, I trust, will be j^aid off before I leave it, so 
that I hope to be freed from these outward incumbrances." 

The old Trustee government had given way to the colonial or 
royal, and a governor and council had affairs in hand, with Ha- 
bersham in a position of influence. Whitefield had planned a 
college in connection with the Orphan-house, for the youth of 
Carolina, Georgia, and the West Indies; but the ecclesiastical 
authorities in England resisted the granting of the charter pro- 
posed by him, though presented and advocated by Dartmouth, 
unless the conditions were inserted that a Church of England 
man should be president, and that not extempore prayers, but the 
Prayer-book, must be daily used in the college. Doubtless the 
hand of the Charleston Commissary was in this. " That bottom 
was not broad enough." The charter, on such conditions, was 
respectfully but firmly declined, and Whitefield and his friends 
contented themselves with an institution of humbler name, at 
Bethesda, yet affording much greater facilities for education than 
any that had been before enjoyed in that quarter. 

Whitefield informed the Georgia government that he had ex- 
pended £12,000 upon the Orphan-house, and now he wished to 
attach to it a college; that, in order to accomplish his purpose, 
he was prepared to lay out a considerable sum of money " in pur- 
chasing a large number of negroes" for the cultivation of the 
rice and indigo plantation for the "future support of a president, 
professors, and tutors;" and he asked the council to grant him, 
in trust, for the purposes aforesaid, two thousand acres of land. 
Moreover, he proposed to transfer his plantation from Carolina 
to the Georgia Colony. He writes : 

Bethesda, January 14, 1765. God liatb given me great favor in the siglit of tlie 
governor, council, and assembly. A memorial was presented for an additional 
grant of land, consisting of two thousand acres. It was immediately complied with. 
Both houses addressed the governor in behalf of the intended college. Every 
heart seems to leap for joy, at the prospect of its future utility. 

February 13. Yesterday morning, the governor, and Lord G , with several 

other gentlemen, favored me with their company to breakfast. . . Now fare- 
well, my beloved Bethesda; surely the most delightful place in all the southern 
parts of America. What a blessed winter have I had! Peace and love, and har- 
mony and plenty, reign here ! Thanks be to God, all outward things are settled 
on this side the water. The auditing the accounts, and laying the foundation for 



256 



History of Methodism. 



a college, liath silenced enemies and comforted friends. The finisliing of this af- 
fair confirms my call to England at this time. 

On his way to New York to take ship, he writes: "All along 
from Charleston to this place, the cry is, ' For Christ's sake stay 
and preach to us! ' O for a thousand lives to spend for Jesus! " 
Arriving in England in time to dedicate the Bath Chapel of the 
Countess of Huntingdon, he tarried there until Trevecca College 
was opened, filling up the space between with itinerant labors 
over the United Kingdom. Quitting England for the last time, 
he landed (Nov. 30) in Charleston, and was welcomed by the 
people as never before. 

From his home at Bethesda, he writes (January 11, 1770): 
"Every thing exceeds my most sanguine expectations. I am al- 
most tempted to say, 'It is good for me to be here; ' but all must 
give way to gospel-ranging — divine employ! " In another let- 
ter: "And the increase in this colony is almost incredible. Two 
wings are added to the Orphan-house, for the accommodation of 
students; of which Governor Wright laid the foundation, March 
25, 1769." Bethesda is head-quarters for awhile, and it is pleas- 
ant to witness his joy, after so long toil. The Orphan-house has 
nearly done its work, and the Lord comforts his servant at the 
last. Of the many letters in this strain, we extract from a few. 
In April, he writes to a London friend: 

You are daily remembered at a throne of grace. How glad would many be to 
see our Goshen, our Bethel, our Bethesda! Never did I enjoy such domestic peace, 
comfort, and joy, during my whole pilgrimage. It is unspeakable, it is full of glory. 
Peace, peace unutterable, attends our paths ; and a pleasing prospect of increasing, 
useful prosperity is continually rising to our view. We enjoy a little heaven on 
earth here. With regret I go northward, as far as Philadelphia at least, next 
month. Though I am persuaded, as the house is now altered, I should be cooler 
here during the summer's heat than at any other place I know of, where I used 
to go. I should be glad to treat you with some of the produce of our colony, Avhich 
is much earlier than yours. The audits, etc., sent with this, be pleased to com- 
municate to all my real friends. Every thing concurs to show me that Bethesda's 
affairs must go on as yet in their old channel. I wish some books might be pro- 
cured for our infant library. In all probability, I shall not return hither till No- 
vember. Was ever any man blessed with such a set of skillful, peaceful, labori- 
ous helpers? O Bethesda, my Bethel, my Peniel! My happiness is inconceivable. 
A few hundred besides what is already devoted would finish all, I do not in the 
least doubt. I have had nine or ten prizes lately. You know what I mean — nine 

* It was on this trip to England that he buried his wife, concerning whom this mny suffice: 
When one, on a certain occasion, asked how Whitefield had married, the reply was, "Not so 
well as Charles Wesley, nor so bad as John." 



Philip Emhury. 



257 



or ten orphans have lately been taken in. Halleluiah! halleluiah! let chapel, 
Tabernacle, heaven, and earth resound with halleluiah ! I can no more. My heart 
is too big to speak or add more. 

With such feelings he leaves Bethesda, not to return. On his 
way northward from Philadelphia, he writes : " Pulpits, hearts, and 
affections seem to be as open and enlarged toward me as ever. 
Praise the Lord, O my soul ! As yet I have my old plan in view — 
to travel in these northern parts all summer, and return late in 
the fall to Georgia. Through infinite mercy, I still continue in 
good health, and more and more in love every day with a pilgrim 
life. People of all ranks flock as much as ever. To all the Epis- 
copal churches, as well as most of the other places of worship, I 
have free access. Notwithstanding I preach twice on the Lord's- 
day, and three or four times a week besides, yet I am rather bet- 
ter than I have been for many years. To the long-suffering, 
never-failing Lord be all the glory. So many new as well as old 
doors are open, and so many invitations sent from various quarters, 
that I know not which way to turn myself. Perhaps I may not see 
Georgia till Christmas. As yet I keep to my intended plan in re- 
spect to my returning. Lord Jesus, direct my goings in thy way ! " 

Since Whitefield was last in New York, the Methodists had 
organized there under Philip Embury, an Irish local preacher 
who came out the same year with Strawbridge, but had not been 
quite so forward in his work. They had built a church and 
called on Wesley for help. 

On the third of August, 1769, in the Conference at Leeds, he 
said from the chair: " We have a pressing call from our brethren 
of New York (who have built a preaching-house) to come over 
and help them. Who is willing to go?" Eichard Boardman 
and Joseph Pilmoor responded. " What can we do further in 
token of our brotherly love ? Let us now take a collection among 
ourselves." This was immediately done, and out of it £50 were 
allotted toward the payment of the New York debt, and X20 given 
to the brethren for their passage. 

While Whitefield was on the Atlantic making for the port of 
Charleston, these two missionaries were sailing before the same 
winds for the port of Philadelphia. He met them and gave them 
his blessing. His mission of preparation was drawing to a 
close, and they were to enter into his labors where he left off. 

On Saturday morning, September 29, 1770, he set out for 
17 



258 



History of Methodism. 



Boston; but before he came to Newburyport, where he had en- 
gaged to preach next morning, he was imiDortiined to preach by 
the way, at Exeter. A friend observing him more nneasy than 
usual, said: "Sir, you are more fit to go to bed than to preach." 
To which Whitefield answered, "True, sir;" but turning aside, 
he clasped his hands together, and looking up said: " Lord Jesus, 
I am weary i}i thy work, but not of thy work. If I have not yet 
finished my course, let me go and speak for thee once more in 
the fields, seal thy truth, and come home and die." He preached 
in the oj^en air to accommodate the multitudes that came to hear 
him, no house being able to contain them, and continued his dis- 
course nearly two hours, by which he was greatly fatigued. In 
the afternoon he set off for Newburyport, where he arrived that 
evening, and soon after retired to rest, intent on preaching the 
next clay. He awoke many times in the night, and complained 
very much of an oppression at his lungs, breathing with great 
difiiculty. Oppressed by asthma, early in the morning he sat up 
in the bed, and prayed that God would be pleased to bless his 
preaching where he had been, and also bless his preaching that 
day, that more souls might be brought to Christ; prayed for di- 
rection, whether he should winter at Boston or hasten to the 
southward; prayed for a blessing on all his labors and his friends 
in America and Europe, for Bethesda and the Tabernacle. At 
six o'clock he rose and moved quickly to the open window for air, 
and said to his servant, "J am (Jtji)ir/;'' and sitting in his chair 
he expired. He was buried beneath the pulpit of Federal Street 
Church, Newburyport, and there his remains are to this day. 

Eulogy, or a summing up of such a life and character, is 
needless. Dying testimony was not required of him whose 
living testimony had so often glorified his Lord. He had a pre- 
sentiment that it would be so in his case. So ardent were his 
desires after the heavenly happiness that he often longed to fin- 
ish his work, and to go home to his Saviour. " Blessed be God," 
said he, " the prospect of death is pleasant to my soul. I would 
not live here always; I want to be gone. Sometimes it arises 
from a fear of falling, sometimes from a prospect of future la- 
bors and sufferings. But there are times when my soul has such 
foretastes of God that I long more eagerly to be with him; and the 
prospect of the happiness which the spirits of just men made per- 
fect now enjoy often carries me, as it were, into another world." 



Death of Widtefleld. 



259 



The impression upon the public mind may be imagined. The 
funeral-discourses, by leading preachers in Old and New En- 
gland, would make a volume. AVesley, according to request, de- 
livered a sermon in the Tabernacle worthy of the occasion and 
of himself. The effect of the announcement of his death upon 
the inhabitants of the Southern provinces, especially that of 
Georgia, was most profound. In Savannah all the black cloth 
in the stores was bought up. The governor and council, in deep 
mourning, convened at the State-house and went in procession to 
church, and were received by the organ playing a funeral-dirge, 
and two funeral-sermons were preached. 

Our readers may feel an interest in that portion of his will 
which disposes of Bethesda affairs: 

In respect to my American concerns, -which I have engaged in simply and sole- 
ly for His great name's sake, I leave that building, commonly called the Orphan- 
house, at Bethesda, in the province of Georgia, together with all the other build- 
ings lately erected thereon, and likewise all other buildings, lands, negroes, books, 
furniture, and every other thing whatsoever, which I now stand possessed of in the 
province of Georgia aforesaid, to that elect lady, that mother in Israel, that mir- 
ror of true and undefiled religion, the Right Honorable Selina, Countess Dowager 
of Huntingdon ; desiring that as soon as may be after my decease, the plan of the 
intended Orphan-house Bethesda College may be prosecuted ; if not practicable, 
or eligible, to pursue the present plan of the Orphan-house academy, on its old 
foundation and usual channel ; but if her ladyship should be called to enter her 
glorious rest before my decease, I bequeath all the buildings, lands, negroes, and 
every thing before mentioned, which I noAV stand possessed of in the province of 
Georgia aforesaid, to my dear fellow-traveler, and faithful, invariable friend, the 
Honorable James Habersham, president of His Majesty's honorable council. 

The Countess entered upon the discharge of the trust earnestly. 
All the ministerial students who had gone out from the college 
were called in to form " the Mission to North America," and a 
solemn assembly was held at Trevecca for a fortnight. In Novem- 
ber several missionaries who had been selected and ordained for 
this field sailed for Georgia, with a Church of England president 
for Bethesda, and the Countess's own housekeeper to put things 
in proper order, " that nothing should be wanting on their parts to 
render the establishment of the president, master, and students 
suitable to the character they bore as belonging to the Countess 
of Huntingdon." Visions of missionary fields among the na- 
tives, and in distant settlements, were bright. Such a jubilee as 
attended the preparation and leave-taking is seldom equaled at 



260 



History of Methodism. 



this day, when missionary operations are more frequently enter- 
prised. The Countess soon added an estate of her own to the 
Bethesda plantation, where slaves— in addition to the fifty left 
by Whitefield — cultivated rice and indigo, for the support of the 
institution. The preachers were well received by the people. 
The first remittance from the proceeds of the trust sent by her 
agents, Tatnall & Glenn (£26, 10s), the Countess returned to 
them to be expended on the trust, and marks the occasion : 

I must tlierefore request that a woman slave be purchased with it, and that she 
may be called Selina, after me, in order best to establish that period of mv only 
receipt of money during the whole course of my possessing that trust, or my own 
property there; and that in your accounts it may fully fix and determine the time 
of this remittance, taking care that it may appear as by my special aj)pointment.* 

The conduct of business so complicated as an orphanage, a 
college, a mission, and a large x3lantation, with the owner thou- 
sands of miles away, turned out as might be supposed. Her 
clerical superintendent, Piercy, lived high, and sent no itemized 
accounts to her ladyship, who had remitted, and was remitting, 
large sums to keep things going. She complains of his having 
driven to Boston forty-one of my best slaves and sold them," and 
appropriated the large proceeds, all without her consent.f 

The Orphan-house was accidentally destroyed by fire. The 
Eevolutionary War came on, and the reverend president and 
missionaries took advantage of the reduction of Charleston by 
the British forces, in 1780, to return to England; and the estates 
of the Countess were confiscated. 



^ The devout Hervey spent the winter 1751-2 in London, mostly at the house 
of AVhitefield. A mutual review of their theological works occupied part of their 
time. After sharing Whitefield's hospitality, Hervey left a singular gift. ''When 
you please to demand, my brother will pay you £30, for the purchase of a negro. 
And may the Lord Jesus Christ give you, or rather take for himself, the precious 
soul of the poor slave!" Whitefield readily acquiesced. He answered: "You 
are resolved not to die in my debt. I think to call your intended purchase Wes- 
ton, and shall take care to remind him by whose means he was brought under the 
everlasting gospel." 

t The Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon (Vol. H., pp. 266-271). 



CHAPTER XXI. 



Aiminian Metliodism Planted — First Laborers: StraAvbridge ; Embury; Williams; 
King — These Irregulars Occujoying the Ground and Preparing the AVay — 
"Which was the First — The Log Meeting-house — The Grave of Strawbridge. 

WHILE an abortive attempt was being made, under the 
patronage of an English, countess, to establish Calvinistic 
Methodism in Georgia, the foundation of its Arminian type was 
well laid in Maryland by the poor Irish farmer, Strawbridge; 
the chapel at New York, under the carpenter, Embury, was 
prospering; and Kobert Williams, with John King, was forming 
classes and planning circuits in Virginia and North Carolina. 

The bigotry of Louis XIV., who had expelled the Huguenots 
from France, sent also the Protestants of the Lower Ehine — the 
Palatinate — into many lands for refuge. They were of German 
blood and Lutheran faith; and the armies of Turenne, by order 
of his popish master, were let loose upon them in 1688. Houses 
and villages were laid waste by fire and sword. The Elector 
Palatine could see from the towers of Manheim, his capital, no 
less than two cities and twenty-five villages on fire at once. 
About three thousand of these Palatines came to Pennsylvania 
and North Carolina. Over a hundred families settled in Limer- 
ick, Ireland. They were thrifty in building and planting, but 
being isolated both by religion and language, their moral con- 
dition became as bad as that of their neighbors, or worse. 

In 1752 Wesley preached in one of the villages of these Pala- 
tines. He repeated his visit. Philip Embury was one of the 
early converts, and a Society was formed in his village. In 1760 
Philip and his family, two of his brothers and their families, 
Paul Heck and Barbara his wife, with a goodly company of their 
countrymen, emigrated to New York. Philip Embury v/as born 
in Ballingran, in 1728. It is probable that he heard Wesley on 
the occasion of his first visit to Limerick, and there is a tra- 
dition in the family that he always traced his conversion to 
that sermon. A small book, in the possession of his family, has 
the following entry, in his own handwriting: " On Christmas-day, 
being Monday, ye 25th of December, in the year 1752, the Lord 

(261) 



262 



History of Metliodism. 



shone into my sonl by a glimpse of his redeeming love, being an 
earnest of my redemption in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory for 
ever and ever. Amen. Phil. E^ibury." He was shortly after 
ai>pointed a class-leader, and was consistent and faithful. With- 
in a brief period he became a local preacher. He was a carpen- 
ter; and it is believed that the principal portion of the timber 
work in connection with the first church among the Palatines 
was done by Embury's own hand. In 1758 Wesley held a Con- 
ference, for the second time, in Limerick. At this Conference, 
among those recommended for the itinerancy were Philip Em- 
bury of Ballingran, and William Thompson of Enniskillen.* 
Philip was put on the "reserve list," and while building the 
church met with Mary Switzer, and married her; and thus put 
an end to his itinerant expectations, and got turned to America. 
Thompson became a leader of the Wesleyan host, and was its 
first president after Wesley's death. " The presumption is," 
says an excellent authorit}^, " that Embury attempted some re- 
ligious service shortly after landing in New York; but being con- 
stitutionally timid and retiring, and meeting with little or no en- 
couragement, and having no suitable place in which to conduct 
the services, he abandoned the idea of attempting any public 
services, at least for the present. He joined the Lutherans, and 
we have the testimony of his son that he never abandoned the 
jDractice of family worship. During the period in which Em- 
bury's ' talent lay hid in a napkin ' several of his children were 
born, who were baptized among the Lutherans." f 

In 1765 a second party of Palatine families arrived in New 
York, from Ballingran and the old neighborhood. Their arrival 
doubtless awakened tender memories, and brought fresh reports 
of the class-meetings and congregations where those immigrants, 
who were Methodists, formerly worshiped; for it seems the most 
of them were Wesleyans, or members of the Irish Protestant 
Church. The Palatines who came first had backslidden gener- 
ally, and the new-comers were no better. When they met, after 
the day's labor, card-playing formed the staple amusement. 
There is no evidence that Embury ever played with them. One 
evening, in the autumn of 1766, a large company were assembled 
playing cards as usual, when Barbara Heck came in, and hastily 
seized the cards, and throwing them into the fire, administered a 



^Ireland and American Methodism, by the Eer. AV. Crook, D.D. flbid. 



Barbara Heck — Emhurij — Captain Webb. 



263 



rebuke to all concerned. She then went to Embury's house, who 
was her cousin, and told him what she saw, and what she had 
done, adding, with great earnestness: "Philip, you must preach 
to us, or we shall all go to hell, and God will require our blood 
at your hands!" Philip attempted a defense by saying, "How 
can I preach, as I have neither house nor congregation?" 
"Preach," said this noble woman, "in your own house, and to 
your own company." Before she left she prevailed on him to 
make the attempt, and within a few days Embury preached the 
first Methodist sermon in New York, in his own hired house, to 
a congregation of five persons, one of whom was Betty, the ne- 
gro servant. Of course Paul Heck and Barbara were there. 

"The humble cottage, with a single window in front," became 
too small, and an " upper room " was hired; and in 1767 this yield- 
ed to the more accommodating Eigging Loft — a room sixty by 
eighteen feet. Here Embury preached Sunday mornings at six 
o'clock, and Sunday evenings; and after a time, on Thursday 
evenings. 

When this primitive church had been worshiping for about 
three months in the Rigging Loft, one Sunday evening a strange- 
looking military gentleman appeared among them. He was 
dressed as an officer, and had lost one of his eyes in a battle. He 
wore a green shade over the eye, and his appearance caused gen- 
eral excitement and inquiry. The fears of the little flock speedily 
gave place to Joy on learning that he was a Methodist, who had 
been converted, under Wesley, at Bristol, three years before; that 
he was now barrack-master at Albany; and, best of all, that he was 
a local preacher, who would assist Embury in ministering the word 
of life. Captain Webb is a memorable figure in those days. He 
preached in his regimentals, his trusty sword lying on the desk, 
and drew vast crowds. His word was attended with uncommon 
power. " The SAvord of the Spirit was buried up to the hilt in 
the refuges of lies," and the Rigging Loft, Sunday after Sunday, 
resounded with the joyful notes of victory, and songs of praise 
to a pardoning God. Under his ministry, and that of Embury, 
multitudes found peace through believing, and the place became 
too strait for them. 

A site was leased on John street in 1768, and purchased two 
years after. The people generally encouraged the enterprise, 
from the mayor to the poorest citizen. The subscription paper, 



History of Methodism. 



w'liicli is still preserved, contains the names of two liundred and 
fifty persons. Captain Webb stands first in amomit, one hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. The chapel was built of stone, faced with 
blue plaster — sixty feet in length, forty-two in breadth. Dis- 
senters were not yet allowed to erect "regular churches" in the 
city; the new building was therefore provided w^ith "a fire-place 
and chimney " to avoid " the difficulty of the law." It was called 
"The AYesley Chapel." Embury superintended the work, and 
made the pulpit with his own hands, and then, October 30, 1768, 
got into it, and preached the dedication sermon. The opening 
sermon — just two years after the first sermon in his own house — 
was from Hosea x. 12 : " Sow^ to yourselves in righteousness, reap 
in mercy; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the 
Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you." 

While the poor members, encouraged by the generous Captain, 
were yet hesitating over so vast an undertaking, Barbara Heck 
came forward, and told them that in praying about it these 
words " with unexpressible sweetness and power " were impressed 
on her mind: "I, the Lord, will do it." Embury supplied the 
pulpit until the arrival of Wesley's missionaries, when he left 
New York for the interior of the State, where he died in 1775. 

Captain Webb planted Methodism in Philadelphia, and "felled 
trees " and formed classes in Xew Jersey and in other parts. He 
was liberal of means as well as zealous. Being placed on the re- 
tired list, with the pay of a captain, in view of his heroic service, 
he gave himself up to the itinerant work, and went abroad preach- 
ing. He corresponded with Wesley, urging the wants of Amer- 
ica for laborers, and even stood before the Conference at Leeds 
(1772), pleading the cause, and brought away two missionaries — 
Kankin and Shadf ord. He asked for J oseph Benson, but could 
not prevail. The old soldier was a chosen vessel for the North- 
ern and Middle colonies. Knowledge of Methodism in England, 
education, and position in society, gave him advantages which 
were well used in laying the foundations. 

During one of the sessions of Congress, in Philadelphia, J ohn 
Adams heard him, and describes him as "the old soldier, one of 
the most eloquent men I ever heard. He reaches the imagina- 
tion and touches the i)?^ssions very well; he expresses himself 
with great propriety." A Methodist writer says: " They saw the 
warrior in his face, and heard the missionary in his voice; under 



Robert Williams, the First Itinerant. 



265 



his lioly eloquence they trembled, they wept, and fell down un- 
der his mighty word." He was a preacher of great earnestness. 
His ringing voice was heard in the Foundry, and Wesley writes : 
" I admire the wisdom of God in still raising up various preach- 
ers, according to the various tastes of men. The Captain is all 
life and fire; therefore, although he is not deep or regular, yet 
many, who would not hear a better preacher, flock to hear him, 
and many are convinced under his preaching." To the end of 
his days he was persuaded that a ministering spirit, a guardian 
angel, had, through Divine mercy, attended him all the way in 
his diversified pilgrimage. His long and useful life, closed v/here 
his spiritual life began — in Bristol. He contributed to building 
Portland Chapel, and in a vault beneath its communion-table he 
was buried. The venerable and valiant evangelist was laid to 
rest by "a crowded, weeping audience;" and the trustees erect- 
ed a marble monument to his memory within its walls, pronounc- 
ing him "brave, active, courageous — faithful, zealous, successful 
— the principal instrument in erecting this chapel." 

The first itinerant preacher who came over to the help of our 
cause in the New World was Robert Williams. " He was taken 
out to travel at the Conference of 1766, and his name is found in 
the Minutes of that year among the Irish appointments." One 
of his circuits took in Sligo, where he crossed the path, and 
doubtless saw the tracks, of Eobert Strawbridge, whom he much 
resembled in impetuous usefulness, in boldness of pioneering, 
and in that spiritual instinct which goes ahead of ecclesiastic- 
al logic in solving questions as to what Israel ought to do. He 
had not an embarrassingly high respect for the Established 
Church and clergy, and this discounted him with Wesley, who 
makes a significant entry in his journal, shortly before Williams 
emigrated to America: 

I rode over the Black Mountains to Manorhamilton. There was a general love 
to the gospel here till simple K. W. preached against the clergy. It is strange 
every one does not see: 1. The sinfulness of railing at the clergy; if they are blind 
leaders of the blind, then (says our Lord) "let them alone." 2. The foolishness 
of it. It can never do good, and has frequently done much harm.f 

About March, 1769, tidings came of Embury's success, and 

* Ireland and American Methodism, by W. Crook, D.D. This is our best au- 
thority on the subject. Most accounts of Eobert Williams represent him as a 
local preacher, or lay evangelist, flbid. 



266 



History of Methodism. 



Williams spoke to Wesley (who had had an -urgent letter from New 
York), offering to go, and asking his sanction and authority. Wes- 
ley consented to his going, with the understanding that he was to 
" labor in subordination with the missionaries who were about to be 
sent out." Williams's impatient zeal panted for the moral conflict 
in the New World, and he resolved to be the first itinerant who ap- 
peared in America. He was poor, and had no way of paying his 
passage. Hearing that his friend Ashton was ready to sail, Will- 
iams hastily left Castlebar, sold his horse to pay his debts and 
pay his way to Dublin, and, carrying his saddle-bags on his arm, 
set off for the ship, with a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk. 
Ashton met him according to promise, and paid his passage. 
They arrived in New York in August, 1769, " two months at least " 
before Boardman and Pilmoor, the regular appointees. Robert 
Williams was " the apostle of Methodism " in Virginia and North 
Carolina, the spiritual father of Jesse Lee, who planted Method- 
ism in New England, and of a multitude of converted souls who 
will bless God that ever he was born. 

He took Embury's place in Wesley Chapel, and in connection 
with the other missionaries labored in New York and vicinity 
until 1771. The records of Old John Street Society show sug- 
gestive items of expenses incurred by the stewards — cash paid 
for a hat, a book, a trunk, a cloak, for "Mr. Williams;" but 
the principal item is for keeping his horse, showing that some 
circuit work and country excursions were connected with a city 
of twenty-two thousand inhabitants. 

Naturally he would seek the companionship of Strawbridge, 
and with him, probably, he spent the fall and winter, laboring 
in connection with John King, another vigorous but irregular 
helper, lately come out; and under their ministry a good work 
began in Baltimore City and county, and in the adjoining coun- 
try, the fruits of which remain to this day. 

The date of his first appearance in Virginia is 1772. He landed at Norfolk 
early in the year, and at once opened his mission. He preached his first sermon 
at the door of the court-house. Standing on the steps, lie began to sing. At- 
tracted by the novel sound, the people gathered around and gazed on him with 
astonishment. The hymn finished, he kneeled and prayed. He then announced 
his text, and preached to a most disorderly crowd. A few listened, but most of 
them talked, laughed, and moved about in all directions. Nothing daunted, the 
sturdy missionary poured from a full heart the simple truths of the gospel. To 
the wondering multitude he was an enigma. Never had they heard the like. 



Williams in Virginia — His Great Usefulness. 267 



"Sometimes," said they, "he would preach, tJien he would pray, then he would 
swear, and at times he would sing." Unaccustomed to hearing preachers freely 
use the words, "hell," "devil," etc., in their sermons, when he warned them of the 
danger of going to hell, of being damned forever, of dwelling with the devil and 
his angels, they declared he was swearing. "Pie is mad," was the verdict. Of 
course no house was opened to entertain a madman. He preached again. A few 
hearts were touched, and the stranger was fed and sheltered, not as mad, but as 
speaking the words of truth and soberness. The tree of Methodism was thus plant- 
ed in an uncongenial soil, but, watered from on high, it struck its roots deep, and 
put forth goodly branches, bearing much fruit."^ 

He retarnecl a hundred members from Virginia to the first 
Annual Conference. Jarratt, the evangelical clergyman, wrote 
an account of "the work of God in these parts" — Sussex and 
Brunswick counties — and says : 

It was chiefly carried on by the Methodists. The first of them that appeared 
there was Robert Williams, who was a plain, active, indefatigable preacher of the 
gospel. He was greatly blessed in detecting the hypocrite, razing false founda- 
tions, and stirring believers up to press after a present salvation from the remains 
of sin. He came to my house in the month of March, in the year 1773. The 
next year others of his brgthren came, who gathered many Societies, both in this 
neighborhood and in other places as far as North Carolina. They now began to 
ride the circuit, and to take care of the Societies already formed, which were ren- 
dered a happy means both of deepening and spreading the work of God. 

Williams formed the first circuit in Yirginia. A signal exam- 
ple of his usefulness was the conversion of Jesse Lee, whose par- 
ents opened their doors for him to preach. They were converted. 
Two of their sons became Methodist ministers, and their other 
children shared largely in the blessings of the gospel which he 
proclaimed with such holy ardor and success. Jesse Lee de- 
scribes the man and his manner in days when the Toleration 
Act was not always a protection: 

His manner of preaching was well calculated to awaken careless sinners, and to 
encourage penitent mourners. He spared no pains in order to do good. He fre- 
quently went to church to hear the Established clergy, and as soon as divine serv- 
ice was ended he would go out of the church, and standing on a stump, block, or 
log, began to sing, pray, and then preach to hundreds of people. It was common 
with him, after preaching, to ask most of the people some question about the wel- 
fare of their souls. 

He was the first preacher in America that followed the exam- 
ple of Wesley in the circulation of tracts and books. Jesse Lee 
tells us that he " reprinted many of Wesley's books and spread 



■^Bennett's Memorials of Methodism in Virginia. 



268 



Hisfonj of Methodism. 



tliem tlirougli the country." He issued Wesley's sermous in 
tract form, and circulated them freely with the happiest results. 
After marrying he ceased to travel as a regular itinerant. His 
home was about midway between Suffolk and Portsmouth. Here 
he died. For many years his grave was remembered and point- 
ed out, but all trace of it has disappeared. " We look with pecul- 
iar feelings on him who stands first in a great cause." Eobert 
Williams printed the first Methodist book in America, he vras 
the first to marry, the first to locate, the first to die, and the first of 
that band of heroes who passed into the City of God. 

John King is the last of the memorable irregulars to be men- 
tioned who took possession before the appointed missionaries 
came to America, and becoming naturalized, clave to the soil and 
to the people, and stood by the cause of Methodism when all but 
one of the regulars left the field. There is a lesson here touch- 
ing the theory of missionary success. The impulse that draws 
or drives a man into such a field is a greater power and guaran- 
tee against failure than any fund or association standing at his 
back. John King v-as a strong character, and did service at a 
time when such men only make themselves heard. He was born 
in England, in 1746 — the youngest of three sons. He had stud- 
ied at Oxford University, and in a London medical college. 
Whether he ever graduated, we do not know. . He heard John 
Wesley preach, and was converted. His father's family bitterly 
opposed the Methodist movement. Finally he was disinherited. 
It was the old story. The love for Jesus waxed all the warmer 
in his heart when he felt that he v>'as " persecuted for righteous- 
ness' sake." So far from recanting his faith, he was now im- 
pressed with the conviction that he must preach. He went to 
Wesley and opened his heart to him, and that decided his course. 
We next find him in Philadelphia, in the latter part of 1769, 
burdened with the conviction, " Woe is unto me if I preach not 
the gospel!" He offered himself to the Society for license, but 
they hesitated. However, he determined to preach, and made an 
appointment "in the potter's field." He proclaimed his first 
message in that humblest of sanctuaries, over the graves of the 
poor, and thus began a career of eminent usefulness. Some of 
his Methodist brethren heard him, and he was licensed, and next 
appears in Wilmington, Del., " among a few people who were 
there earnestly seeking the Lord." In Maryland, Strawbridge 



John King, One of the "Irregulars.^' 



269 



greeted him with hearty welcome, and they wrought zealously to- 
gether in Baltimore county. King was a man of invincible zeal. 
On his first visit to Harford county, in 1769, before he began relig- 
ious services in a large congregation, he stood some time in silent 
prayer, covering his face with his hands. The spectacle struck 
the attention of a young man with such effect that he was awak- 
ened, and was soon after converted under the ministry of the 
stranger. King was the first Methodist to preach in the city of 
Baltimore. Here he preached his first sermon from a "black- 
smith's block, at the corner of French and Broad streets," his 
next from " a table at the junction of Baltimore and Calvert 
streets." Five years afterward Methodism was strong enough 
there to entertain an Annual Conference, and Baltimore ever 
since has sat as queen among Methodist cities. His street- 
preaching procured him an invitation that was not repeated — to 
preach in St. Paul's Church. He " made the dust fly from the 
old velvet cushion." Wesley, who knew him in England, corre- 
sponded with him in America; he calls him "stubborn and head- 
strong." One of Wesley's letters to him conveys so good a lesson 
that it may be quoted for the benefit of all public speakers, and 
especially for the benefit of earnest young preachers: 

My dear brother, always take advice or reproof as a favor; it is the surest mark 
of love. I advised you once and you took it as an affront ; nevertheless I will do 
it once more. Scream no more at the peril of your soul. God now warns you by 
me, whom he has set over you. Speak as earnestly as you can, but do not scream. 
Speak with all your heart, but with a moderate voice. It was said of our Lord, 
" He shall not cry : " the word properly means, he shall not scream. Herein be a fol- 
lower of me, as I am of Christ. I often speak loud, often vehemently, but I never 
scream. I never strain myself; I dare not; I know it would be a sin against God 
and my own soul. Perhaps one reason why that good man, Thomas Walsh, yea, 
and John Manners too, were in such grievous darkness before they died, was be- 
cause they shortened their own lives. O John, pray for an advisable and teach- 
able temper. By nature you are very far from it; you are stubborn and head- 
strong. Your last letter was written in a very wrong spirit. 

John King's name appears among the ten in the first printed 
Minutes who made up the first Annual Conference in Amer- 
ica, and from it he was sent to New Jersey; next year to 
Norfolk; and next year he married in Brunswick county, Va., 
and soon after located. The Church prospered and enlarged 
where John King labored. After locating he bought a home 
in Franklin county, N. C, near the present county-seat, Louis- 



270 



History of Methodism. 



burg, where he lived until 1789 or 1790, when he removed to 
Wake county, about ten miles west of Ealeigh. At the Annual 
Conference of 1777 he was appointed, with John Dickens, LeRoy 
Cole, and Edward Pride, to North Carolina Circuit. This was 
the second year of the existence of a circuit in that State. At 
the close of the year they reported nine hundred and thirty mem- 
bers. Carolina Circuit the year before had reported six hundred 
and eighty- three members in Society; so that, notwithstanding 
the war, there had been an increase of two hundred and forty- 
seven. King's name does not appear on the printed Minutes 
after this year. He practiced medicine to support his family, 
and served the Church as a local preacher. Bishop Asbury 
makes frequent and honorable mention of him in his journal; 
and there is abundant evidence that he continued to the end an 
earnest, fearless, faithful preacher of the gospel,. and his house 
was a favorite stopping-place with the old Bishop. King was 
present at the first Methodist Conference in North Carolina, con- 
vened at Green Hill's, in Franklin county, one mile south of the 
town of Louisburg, April 20, 1785. Coke and Asbury presided. 
There is a family tradition that as he entered the room in 
which the Conference had assembled. Dr. Coke, without a word 
of salutation, called upon him to pray. Laying aside his saddle- 
bags, he began his petition. He died while on a visit to New 
Berne, in 1794, and was buried at his home in Wake county. 
His children — six in number — were all members of the Method- 
ist Church. Two of his sons, John and William, were Method- 
ist preachers.'^' 

Kobert Strawbridge, both in order of time and talent and 
service, stands at the head of the noble "irregulars " who found- 
ed Arminian Methodism ^in America. Embury is worthy of 
much honor, but the builder of the Log Meeting-house of more. 
They were contemporaneous in arrival, but not in labor. Em- 
bury was a gentle spirit, modest and diffident. His candle was 
hid under a bushel for six years, and might have staid there 

* These facts concerning John King are taken from "Sketches of the Pioneers 
of Methodism in North Carolina," by the Eev. M. H. Moore (1884), who had 
access to family records. The descendants of John King are worthily represented 
in the Methodist ministry and laity of Kentucky and Tennessee to this day. The 
first Treasurer of Vanderbilt University, Dempsey Wea ver, Esq., was connected 
with a branch of the family. 



The Log Meeting-house — John Street. 



271 



had not Barbara Heck taken it off, and compelled his feeble but 
pure light to shine. His active period in New York extended 
through three years, when he removed from the city. Not so 
with Strawbridge: bold, prompt, zealous, he opened his lior.se 
for preaching so soon as he had a house, and went to saving souls; 
and this employment he continued for twenty-one years. At his 
death, in 1781, Societies had been formed in three States, and a 
strong band of preachers had been raised up, who were going all 
abroad with the glorious tidings. 

The Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, 
giving a "brief account of the rise of Methodism " in their pref- 
ace to the Discipline, in 1790, after alluding to the labors of Em- 
bury, in a way that possibly intimates precedence, say that 
about the same time Robert Strawbridge, a local preacher from 
Ireland, settled in Frederick county, in the State of Maryland, 
and preaching there, formed some Societies." They further add 
that " the first Methodist church was built in New York in 1768 
or 1769." The matter of fact involved was perhaps not consid- 
ered of much importance, and an error as to the precedence of 
the two men in forming Societies and building churches might 
easily be made at the time this scrap of history was written. 
Sam's Creek, in Maryland, was not so conspicuous as John 
Street, in New York, nor so often visited. The weakness and 
wants of the latter gave it a place in history when an appeal was 
made to the British Conference for men and money to help pay it 
out and to preach. The Log Meeting-house rejoiced in freedom 
from debt, and the fruitful ministry of its pastor had surrounded 
him with helpers better adapted to the field than any he would 
be likely to obtain abroad. Philip Gatch, William Watters, Ow- 
en, Durbin, Freeborn Garretson, and Haggerty — brought forward 
directly or indirectly by Strawbridge's ministry — left him and his 
people under no necessity of sending across the sea for men or 
money. The very success of the Maryland planting of Method- 
ism has caused it to be obscured in early records. By a most 
respectable authority the following sentence is cast into the scale 
of public opinion against the historic claim of the Log Meeting- 
house: "This building, however, though sometimes spoken of as 
the first Methodist church in Maryland, was never deeded to the 
Church, and was never finished." * Of course, if not the first in 



^ Simpson's Cyclopedia of Methodism : Article, " Strawbridge." 



272 



Historij of Methodism. 



Maryland, it cannot be the first in America, and that settles the 
claim of priority in favor of New York. But it might be asked. 
When is a log meeting-house "finished?" This one served the 
IJGople, and multitudes heard the word of God, and were quick- 
ened and saved. One shop was not "finished" like the other, 
but the work turned out is the proper test in comparing the 
two. A bold spring gushing up from amid rough rocks is bet- 
ter for a water-supply than the trickling drops from a polished 
marble font. As for its never being " deeded to the Church," it 
is enough to say, lots on John street were more valuable than 
lots on Sam's Creek. There was no danger of losing the Log 
Meeting-house. No contest for title has ever been heard of. 

Another author, who evidently is inclined to declare the 
weight of historic testimony to be in favor of the priority of the 
Log Meeting-house, explains the strange fact that nearly all the 
books put Embury and John Street before Strawbridge and 
Sam's Creek: the case Avas not beyond controversy, and the un- 
certainty was overcome " by balancing the importance of one 
event against the priority of another." ''^ 

Even if this unusual canon of historical research be accepted, 
by every token the Strawbridge church comes to the front. If any 
notable preacher or layman was developed in the first generation 
from what it has become popular to style the " cradle of Ameri- 
can Methodism" (Jolm Street), history fails to record the name. 
But says an eminent historian: "Several preachers were rap- 
idly raised up by Strawbridge in his travels in Baltimore and 
Harford counties; Sater Stephenson, Nathan Perigo, Kichard 
Webster, and others; and many laymen, w^hose families have 
been identified with the whole subsequent progress of Meth- 
odism in their respective localities, if not in the nation gen- 
erally." t And the Log Meeting-house was the beginning. 

The Minutes of the first Conference (1773) show one thou- 
sand one hundred and sixty members — the whole numerical 
strength of Methodism in America; and of these five hundred 
are in Maryland, one hundred in Virginia, and one hundred and 
eighty in New York. In 1784, at the organization of Episcopal 

^ Daniel's Illustrated History of Methodism, page 377. The Northern Division 
of Episcopal Methodism celebrated 1866 as the centenary of the first Society and 
first sermon ; but the Southern division took no part in the celebration. 

t Dr. Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch, Vol. I. 



The Pioneer Frecichers and their Converts. 273 



Methodism, more than four-fifths of the fourteen thousand nine 
hundred and eighty-three members were in Maryland and south 
of Maryland. The prophecy of Israel upon Joseph has been 
fulfilled in the history of the work begun by Strawbridge: "Jo- 
seph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, Avhose 
branches ran over the wall; the archers have sorely grieved him, 
and shot at him, and hated him; but his bow abode in strength, 
and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the 
mighty God of Jacob." - 

Freeborn Garretson relates his first interview with Straw- 
bridge, showing that he vv'as strong elsewhere as well as in the 
pulpit. He knew how to make the fireside profitable : 

He came to the house of a gentleman near Avhere I lived to stay all night. I 
had never heard him preach; hut as I had a great desire to be in company vritli a 
person who had caused so much talk in the country, I Avent over and sat and heard 
him converse until nearly midnight ; and when I retired it was with these thoughts 
— I liave never spent a feu' hours so agreeably in my life. He spent most of the 
time in explaining Scripture, and in giving interesting anecdotes; and perhaps one 
of them v.dll do to relate here : A congregation came together in a certain place, 
and a gentleman v\dio was hearing thouglit that the preacher had directed his 
v.'hole sermon to him, and he retired home after the sermon in disgust. However, 
he concluded to hear him once more, and hide himself behind the people, so that 
tlie preacher should not see him; it was the old story — his character Avas deline- 
ated. He retired dejected; but concluded that possibly the preaclier saw him, and 
said, "I will try him once more;" he did so, and hid himself behind the door. 
The jjreacher took for his text, ''And a man shall be as a hiding-place," etc. In 
the midst of the sermon, the preacher cried out, '"'Sinner, come from your scouting- 
liole!" The poor fellow came forAvard, looked the preacher in the face, and said, 
"You are a Avizard, and the devil is in you; I vrill hear you no more." 

The original log-house gave way to a better-built one, three 
miles south-east, on Pipe Creek; the substitute or successor was 
called Poulson Chapel, built in 1783. Of all the costly temples 
built for the worship of God, since that day, by the Methodists, 
none may compare with that original, of log walls and board 
cover and puncheon seats. And yet, if they had continued in it 
after they were able to build better, the blessing of God would 



In 1784 the total number of Methodists in the United States, except itiner- 
ants, Avas 14,983, of Avhom 13,331 were in the Southern States; and of the 65 
chapels built, 56 were in the Southern States. In 1800 the total number Avas 
63,958, of Avhom 45,282 Avere in the Southern States. In 1812 the total number Avas 
195,357, Avith 122,561 in tlie Southern States. In 1820 the total number was 260,- 
275, and of these 133,004 Avere in the Soutliern States. 
18 



274 



Hisfonj of Methodism. 



not liave continued with tliem. In 1800 the stone charch 
now standing took the place of Poulson ChapeL* Here, in . 1801, 
Bishops Asbary and AYhatcoat held a Conference. Not a few of 
the pioneer settlers were alive, and Asbury had means of correct 
information on local history. AVe qnote from his journal (Yol. 
III., page 27): 

April 29. Wednesday -we had a large assembly at Goshen meeting-house. 
Brother AVhatcoat preached. AVe came on that evening to Levin AVarfield's. 

Thursday, 30. We arrived to dine at Alexander Warlield's, on Sam's Creek, 
and pushed on to Henry Willis's on Pipe Creek, where it had been our intention 
to oi^en Conference. We had about forty members present, and sat on Friday, 
Saturday, and Monday. On Tuesday morning "\ve rose. Our own people and our 
friends in the settlement were erjually kind; and we had rich entertainment. This 
settlement of Pipe Creek is the richest in the State; here Mr. Strawbridge formed 
the first Society in Maryland — and America. 

The Italics are his own, and have the meaning of a man 
who, sure of his information, would put a doubtful question 
to rest. 

It is noteworthy that three of the heroic men who were first in 
the history of American Methodism, had the usual overflow of 
action and enterprise which brought their successors, represent- 
ing the reign of law and order, into conflict with them. King was 
stentorian, and had a will of his ovvm that put Wesley in doubt 
of him. It required all that force for his triumphant march over 
the difficulties he met, and in meeting which he made a glorious 
record. Of the six " rules agreed to by all the preachers present " 
at the first Conference (1773), Thomas Eankin presiding, two 
were leveled at Williams and two at Strawbridge. Indeed, about 
half of the business done, besides stationing the ten preachers, 
was in restraining the tvro grand and impetuous men, by whom 



"^•'■'A house which has figured largely in the establishment and perpetuation of 
Methodism, now called the Stone Chapel, where I have often worshiped in my 
youthful days;" so says our informant (C. A. W.), a son of Alexander Warfield. 
Eev. Wm. Hamilton, whose district embraced the Stone Chapel, and who 

had tlie best means of gathering information, in an article in the Methodkt Quar- 
terly Bcrieu; July, 1S56, fixes the date of Strawbridge's arrival at Sam's Creek 
about 1759 or 1760, and the building of the log chapel, 1764. Dr. Geo. C. M, 
Roberts, of Baltimore, has collected information to the same effect. There is ev- 
idence that Henry Maynard (born in 1757) was baptized "about four or five years 
old" by Strawbridge, at the house of John Maynard, his father, one of Straw- 
bridge's preaching-places. 



Bepriniing Wesley's Books. 



275 



more than half of the work up to date had been performed. The 
rules that have AYilliams in view read thus: 

4. None of the preacliers in America to reprint any of Mr. Wesley's books, 
without his authority (when it can be gotten) and the consent of their brethren. 

5. Eobert Williams to sell the books he has already printed, but to print no 
more unless under the above restrictions. 

What had he done? One of the best things possible for him 
or any other man at the time to do. The best historian of 
that day, Jesse Lee, says: "Previous to the formation of this 
rule, Eobert Williams had reprinted many of Mr. Wesley's 
books, and had spread them through the country, to the great 
advantage of religion. The sermons, which he printed in 
small pamphlets, had a very good effect, and gave the people 
great light and understanding in the nature of the new birth and 
in the plan of salvation; and, withal, they opened the way in 
many places for our preachers to be invited to preach where they 
had never been before." 

When Asbury first heard of Williams's publishing enterprise 
he "was somewhat troubled;" he feared that it had been done 
"for the sake of gain," and remarks in his journal: "This will 
not do. It does by no means look well." He wrote to Wesley 
on the subject, Avho, in reply, "enjoined that E. W. might not 
print any more books without his consent." 

This is that same E. W. who had worried Wesley in Ireland 
by preaching against the clergy, and whom he permitted to come 
to the American field, but would not send him. Irrepressible 
genius, who, having started with his saddle-bags and a bottle of 
milk, was now doing what would have been worthy of incor- 
porated capital to undertake. The matter came before the Con- 
ference, and Williams shared the fate of the inventor of the steam 
locomotive some years later. In recording his death, Asbury 
puts in his discounting fear as well as his truthful eulogy. It 
is a singular record in his journal (Yol. I., page 12): 

June 26 [1775]. Brother W. died. The Lord does all things well; perhaps 
Brother W. was in danger of being entangled in worldly business, and might there- 
by have injured the cause of God. So he was taken away from the evil to come. 

Thursday 28. I ventured to preach a funeral-sermon at the burial of Brother 
W. He has been a very useful, laborious man, and the Lord gave him many seals 
to his ministry. Perhaps no one in America has been an instrument of awaken- 
ing so many souls as God has awakened by him. 



276 



Hisfori/ of Metltodism. 



Men are seldom wise above their age. Asbury and tlie Confer- 
ence feared that even in printing snch tracts and books the greed 
of gain and of getting rich might creep in among them. This 
restraint on publishing books by itinerant ministers, without the 
concurrence of their brethren, long survived in the Discipline, 
1 because by the imi)roper publications of accredited ministers the 
Church was involved, in popular estimation, find discredited. 
Besides, the connectional principle and economy were in view, 
out of which grew the Book Concern. But when that undiscov- 
ered grave is found in which " R. W." sleeps, no monument that 
can be raised over it will be too high or too honorable. 

The other two rules, which look to Strawbridge, are: 

1. Every preaclier who acts in connection with INIr. AVcsk\y and tlie bretlircn 
vrho labor in America is strictly to avoid administering the ordinances of baptism 
and the Lord's Supper. 

2. All tlie people among whom we labor to be earnestly exhorted to attend the 
church, and to receive the ordinances there; but in a particular numner to press 
the people in Maryland and Virginia to the observance of this minute. 

Why single out these two States? Strawbridge's sturdy inde- 
pendence, as well as his flaming evangelism, was felt there. The 
higli-souled Irishman did not entertain the current English defer- ■ 
ence for the State-church. The Lord had called him to preach, 
and had owned and honored his ministry by the conversion of 
souls, and he could not see it to be his duty to send them to card- 
playing and dram-drinking parsons in order to have their chil- 
dren baptized, and to receive the Lord's Supper — parsons whose 
only claim to superiority was that the hands of an English bish- 
op had been on their heads. In the Log Meeting-house and 
elsewhere he gave the sacraments to the people whom the Lord 
had given to him, and baptized their children. To an order or 
rule regulating among the American Methodist ministry the 
administration of the ordinances, defining who should and who 
should not be authorized to administer, and laying down the 
laws of ministerial gradation and promotion, Strawbridge would 
doubtless have bowed; but he felt under no obligation to that 
general self-denying ordinance which English Methodists had im- 
posed on themselves. There is a note in Asbury's journal to the 
following effect: "That no preacher in our Connection shall be 
permitted to administer the ordinances, except Mr. Strawbridge, 
and he under the particular direction of the assistant" (Rankin). 



Aslmnj and St raivh ridge. 



Til 



"A concession so singular," says a -leading historian, "shows the 
extraordinary consideration in which Strawbridge was held, the 
influence he had obtained over the Societies in Maryland and 
Virginia; perhaps also the conscious necessity of the independent 
administration of the sacraments in that chief field of the de- 
nomination." But great as was this concession, it did not meet 
Strawbridge's view. Asbury says: "I read a part of our Min- 
utes, to see if Brother Strawbridge would conform, but he ap- 
peared to be inflexible." 

Asbury 's prejudice against Strawbridge for his Hibernian in- 
dependence in the sacramental controversy continued to the last. 
"He is no more!" lamented the good Asbury; "he is no more; 
upon the wdiole I am inclined to think the Lord took him 
away in judgment, because he was in a way to do hurt to his 
cause, and that he saved him in mercy, because from his death- 
bed conversation he appears to have had hope in his end." Rich- 
ard Owen, Avho knew him better, had no doubt about his end. 
He proclaimed over the coflin: "I heard a voice from heaven 
saying unto me. Write: Blessed are the dead which die in the 
Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
from their labors, and their works do follow them." 

We find his name in the Minutes of 1773 and of 1775; then it 
disappears, without note or comment. Probably he could not 
bear the rule of Boardman, Asbury, and Bankin, who in turn 
were Superintendents; conscious as he w^as of the greatness of 
his mission, and seeing no future for Methodism on the line of 
policy, touching the ordinances, represented by them. There is no 
doubt that the influence which went out from Strawbridge has- 
tened the action of Wesley, and strengthened him as to its neces- 
sity, when regular and satisfactory provision was at length made 
for organizing the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. 

Strawbridge was impatient; he could not wait, for he saAv 
no prospect of relief on the English plan. In his last days 
he was provided for. An opulent and generous citizen of 
Baltimore county, who admired his character and sympathized 
with his poverty, gave him a farm free of rent for life. It was 
while residing here, "under the shadow of Hampton," his ben- 
efactor's mansion, that in " one of his visiting rounds to his spir- 
itual children he was taken sick, and died in great peace." 
Bichard Owen preached his funeral-sermon in the open air, to a 



278 



History of MetJiodism. 



great throng, "under a tree at the north-west corner of the 
house." The hymn is preserved which they sang as they laid 
the noble emigrant from the banks of the Shannon to sleep: 

How blest is our brother, bereft 

Of all that could burden liis mind ! 
How easy the soul that has left 

The wearisome body behind! 

The historian of the event adds: " His grave and also the grave 
of Mrs. Strawbridge are in the small burying-ground in the or- 
chard, south of the house perhaps some hundred yards. The 
graves are together, about the center of the ground, and as if 
nature were reproving the neglect of the Church, she has raised 
up a large poplar-tree between them as a living monument of 
their worth. Standing on the spot, and looking southward a dis- 
tance of six or seven miles, the eye rests on Baltimore." 



CHAPTER XXII. 



The ISTew Circuit — Eight Missionaries Sent to It — What Became of Them — The 
War — Asbury Alone Left — The two Blunders — Wesley's Calm Address. 

ANEAY circuit appears on the list at the Twenty-seventh An- 
nual Conference, held in London, 1770: "No. 50 — Ameri- 
ca." The Western Continent stands there in the Minutes as one 
circuit; and the preachers are Boardman and Pilmoor, who having 
gone out since the last session, had sent back a good report. They 
landed at Philadelphia after a nine weeks' voyage, and entered at 
once upon their business. Pilmoor was educated at Kingswood 
School, and had been in the itinerancy four years. Soon after his 
arrival, he wrote to Wesley: 

We were not a little surprised to find Captain Webb in town, and a society of 
about a hundred members, who desire to be in close connection with you. This is 
the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. I have preached several times, 
and the people flock to hear in multitudes. Sunday night I went out upon the 
common. I had the stage appointed for the horse-race for my pulpit, and I think 
between four and five thousand hearers, who heard Avith attention still as night. 
Blessed be God for field-preaching! When I began to talk of preaching at five 
o'clock in the morning, the people thought it would not answer in America; how- 
ever, I resolved to try, and had a very good congregation. 

Whitefield had been along there, and the people were used to 
field-preaching; and the reproach of Methodism had in a meas- 
ure been taken away. Boardman was an amiable and holy man, 
and he, too, found the way partially prepared for him. Leaving 
his colleague to serve Philadelphia, he went to New York, and 
thence reported to head-quarters : 

Coming to a large town on my vray, and seeing a barrack, I asked a soldier if 
there were any Methodists belonging to it. "O yes," said he, "we are all Meth- 
odists; that is, we should all be glad to hear a Methodist preach." "Well," said 
I, "tell them in the barrack that a Methodist preacher, just come from England, 
intends to preach here to-night." He did so; and the inn was soon surrounded 
with soldiers. I asked, "Where do you think I can get a place to preach in?" (it 
being then dark). One of them said, "I will go and see if I can get the Presby- 
terian meeting-house." He did so ; and soon returned to tell me he had prevailed, 
and that the bell was just going to ring to let all the town know. A great compa- 
ny soon got together, and seemed much affected. 

Between these two cities the missionaries spent their time, fre- 
quently interchanging. "Brother Boardman and I," writes Pil- 

(279) 



280 



III story of Method isiu. 



moor, " are cliiefly confined to the cities, and therefore cannot, at 
present, go much into the country, as vre have mcr3 work upon 
cur hands than we are able to perform." 

In the fall of 1771, Asbury and Wright arrived and were joy- 
fully received. A year later, Asbury was appointed Wesley's 
" General Assistant " in America, in place of Boardman. In June, 
1773, Thomas Piankin and George Shadford came under convoy 
of Captain Webb. The former having seen more service, and 
coming fresh from the British Conference, with instructions for 
carrying on the work, superseded Asbury in office. Late in 1774 
other laborers were added, Martin Eodda and James Demp- 
ster, vrhose story is soon told. 

Thus had the American Circuit been supplied, in the course 
of six years, with eight preachers, drawn from the mother Con- 
ference. The war between the Colonies and the mother country, 
put an end to further sui3plies from that quarter; and it was nine 
years before such intercourse was resumed. How these men ac- 
quitted themselves, and how the cause prospered under them and 
others who were raised up to help them, will be considered. 

As is generally the case, mistakes occurred in the choice of 
some of the missionaries. The best are not always to be had for 
a distant and difficult field; and the actual situation may develop 
an unfitness that no sagacity of the ax:)pointing power can fore- 
see. The irregulars v>'ho preceded them, " on their ovai account," 
were lively, full of resources, and not easily daunted by dangers 
and difficulties. But at least half of the eight sent over in the reg- 
ular way did not turn out to be " chosen vessels." The law of nat- 
ural and spiritual selection is a mystery that eludes the wisest. 
If out of the family of Jesse, with eight sons, vre get one David 
— it is well. If one Asbury or one Shadford is found in all who 
crossed and recrossed the Atlantic to evangelize America, the out- 
lay is well repaid, and we ought to be thankful. 

Dempster, a native of Edinburgh, was educated at that univer- 
sity. He was, like Bankin, one of the few Scotchmen who found 
their way into a Methodist Conference. Wesley never had much 
success in Scotland. He found "the generalitj^ of the people so 
wise that they needed no more knowledge, and so good that they 
needed no more religion;" a people, "the greatest part of whom 
hear much, know every thing, and feel nothing." Now and then 
he got a preacher from among them, and such was James Demr)- 



The Lcihorers in the New Circuit. 



281 



ster, who liad been ten years an itinerant. Soon after coming to 
America, he connected himself with the Presbyterians, and lived 
and died with them. One of his sons became an eminent Method- 
ist minister.* In less than two years Kodda fled the country, be- 
cause, as a royalist, he engaged in spreading the king's proclama- 
tion through his circuit in Delaware. Aided by slaves, he escaped 
to the British fleet, and returned. His conduct was a cause of 
trouble to his brethren v\^ho were left behind him, both preachers 
and people. He continued in the itinerancy in England three or 
four years, and then no more is seen of him. 

Wright, after spending a year or two in the Southern provinces 
— part of the time in Norfolk — early in the year 1774 returned 
to England, by the advice of his brethren. After his return he 
continued in the Wesleyan itinerancy a tew years, and then de- 
sisted from traveling. Boardman's letter from New York shows 
the spirit in which he prosecuted his work: 

It pleases God to carry on his work amongst us. Within tliis month we have 
liad a great aAvakening here. Many begin to believe the report, and to some the 
arm of the Lord is revealed. This last month we have had near thirty added to 
the Society, five of whom have received a clear sense of the pardoning love of God. 
We have in this city some of tlie best preachers (both in the English and Dutch 
churches) that are in America. Yet God works by whom he will work. I have 
lately been comforted by the death of some poor negroes, who liave gone ofi the 
stage of time rejoicing in the God of their salvation. 

The war approaching, he and his colleague left in 1774; and 
we trace his continued history in the Minutes for eight years, 
vfhen the flrst American "Assistant " died suddenly in Ireland, 
and w^as carried by devout men of Cork, with mourning, to his 
burial. Pilmoor's subsequent career was checkered. Wesley 
failed to name him as one of the legal hundred in the "Deed of 
Declaration" registered in 1784; and in making up an episcopal 
government for America did not call for his services. He quit the 
Connection, returned to America, took orders in the Protestant 
Episcopal Church, and was rector of a church in New York, and 
later in Philadelphia. He became a Doctor of Divinity, had 
a love for Methodism to the last, and to the end of his long life 
subscribed to the Old Preachers' Fund. At the Conference of 
1804, in John Street Church, says Wakely, a tall, dignified old gen- 
tleman came into the house, and walked to where Bishop Asbury 
was sitting. Asbury arose, shook hands with him, and then, in 

*Dr. Dempster, Avho founded Biblical schools in Concoi-d and in Evanstcn. 



282 



Historif of Methodism. 



liisownway, said, as lie introduced him to tlie Conference, "This 
is Brother Pilmoor, who used to preach in this pulpit under the 
direction of Mr. Wesley." Pilmoor seemed a little embarrassed, 
and bowed respectfully, paid his annual subscription to the 
Preachers' Fund, and retired. It was a pity he left the Church 
of his early choice, as he had the heart and soul of a Methodist 
preacher, and much of the fire of the primitive itinerancy. The 
eyangelical si^irit produced through his instrumentality in the 
congregations over w^hich he presided, and a correspondent atten- 
tion to some of the peculiar means of grace which he introduced 
among them, continued to manifest themselves for a number of 
years after his death. 

Thomas Pankin was a native of Dunbar. He had spent much 
time as the traveling companion of Wesley, and therefore came 
to America well acquainted with the doctrine and discipline which 
were to be taught and enforced. His awakening and conversion 
recalls the fact that, in the marching and countermarching of 
armies, i3rimitive Methodism was spread by converted soldiers. 
Thus was it planted at Gibraltar and other points on the Conti- 
nent. Pankin's experience is connected with this strange means 
of gospel propagandism: 

A troop of dragoons came to Dunbar; among -whom -were ten or twelve pious 
men. As soon as they Avere settled in the place, they hired a room, and met to- 
gether for prayer and hearing the "word of God every morning and evening. 1 
did not know then, but I have been informed since, that those men were part of 
the religious soldiers who used to meet with John Haime (the Methodist lay 
preacher) and others, in Germany. The news of soldiers meeting for j^raycr and 
praise, and reading the word of God, soon spread through the town; curiosity led 
manv to attend their meetings, and I was one of that number. It pleased God to 
carry on tlie work of his grace in the souls of those in Avhom it was begun, and 
their number increased; so that a Society vras formed, and class-meetings were es- 
tablished. At that time I did not understand the nature of class-meetings; and 
therefore was ready to listen to tlie foolish talking of those who said, "The soldiers 
had pardoned such and sucli a cne, after they had confessed their sins to them." 

He was now in condition to listen to an embassador of God, 
whom hitherto, through prejudice, he had declined to hear. "It 
was about this time that I first heard that eminent servant of 
the Lord Jesus, Mr. George AYhitefield. He was preaching his 
farewell sermon in the Orphan-house yard, in Edinburgh. I had 
often before had thoughts of hearing him, but so many things 
had been said to me of him that I Avas afraid I should be de- 



Thomas Rankin's Experience. 



283 



ceived. I heard him with wonder and surprise, and had such a 
discovery of the plan of salvation as I had never known before. 
I remembered more of that sermon than of all the sermons I ever 
had heard; and had a discovery of the unsearchable riches of the 
grace of God in Christ Jesus, as also how a lost sinner was to 
come to God, and obtain mercy through the Kedeemer." How 
he reached a clear conversion, he shall tell : 

It was suggested to me: "Probably you are not one of the elect; and you may 
seek, and seek in vain." I tasted no pleasant food, my sleep departed from me, 
and my flesh wasted from my bones; till at last I sunk into despair. One morn- 
ing I went into the garden, and sat down in a retired place, to mourn over my sad 
condition. I began to wrestle with God in an agony of prayer. I called out: 
'•'Lord, I have wrestled long, and have not yet prevailed; O let me now prevail!" 
The whole passage of Jacob's wrestling with the angel came into my mind; and 
I called out aloud, "I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me!" In a moment 
the cloud burst, and tears of love flowed from my eyes ; when these words were ap- 
plied to my soul, many times over, "And he blessed him there." They came with 
the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance; and my whole soul was overwhelmed 
with the presence of God. Every doubt of my acceptance was now gone, and all 
mj fears fled away as the morning shades before the rising sun. I had the most 
distinct testimony that all my sins were forgiven through the blood of the cove- 
nant, and that I was a child of God, and an heir of eternal glory. 

An interview of Thomas Eankin with Wesley ended by his send- 
ing him to a circuit to try him, and soon his call to preach was as 
clear to him as his conversion. Rankin came to America to set 
things in order, and to him belongs the distinction of convening 
and presiding over the first Annual Conference.* The work of 
stationing the preachers and regulating the Societies had here- 
tofore been done at Quarterly Conferences. He was not equal 
to the man whom he superseded at any point except it be that 
of personal piety. The largeness of things in the Old World 
made him unable to appreciate the day of small things in the 
New. His journal constantly reveals disappointment: 

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we had our first little Conference. There 
were present seven preachers, besides Brothers Boardman and Pilmoor, who were 
to return to England. Tlie annount of all the members in the diflerent Societies 
did not exceed one thousand one hundred and sixty. From the wonderful ac- 
counts I had heard in England, and during our passage, I was led to think there 

*The list of appointments of the Conference held in Phildelphin, July 14, 1773 : "NewYnrlc, 
Thomas Rankin (to change in four months) ; Philadelphia, Georp;e Shadford (to change in four 
months) ; New Jersey, John King, William Watters ; Baltimore, Francis Asbury, Robert Straw- 
bridge, Abraham Whitworth, Jose])h Yearbry; Norfolk, Richard Wright; Petersburg, Robert 
Williams. 



284 



Histonj of Methodism. 



must be some thousands awakened, and joined as members of our Societies; but I 
svas now convinced of tlie real truth. Some of the above number I also found, 
afterward, vrere not closely united to us. Indeed, our discipline was not properly 
attended to, except at Philadelphia and Xew York; and even in those places it 
was upon a decline. 

Next year the Aimiial Conference again met in Philadelphia: 
" May 25 [1774]. — Oiir little Conference began, and ended on Fri- 
day, the 27th. AVe proceeded in all things on the same plan as in 
England, which our Minutes will declare. Every thing considered, 
we had reason to bless God for what he had done in about ten 
months. Above a thousand members are added to the Societies, 
and most of these have found peace with God. We had now^ 
more than seventeen preachers." 

And next year, we have a similar entry: "May 16. — The 
preachers came together from their different circuits, and next 
day we began our little Conference. We wanted all the act vice 
and light we could obtain, respecting our conduct in the present 
critical situation of affairs. We had abundant reason to bless 
God for the increase of his vrork last year. We had above a 
thousand added to the different Societies, and they had increased 
to ten circuits. Our joy in God Vv^ould have been abundantly 
more, had it not been for the preparations of war that now rung 
throughout this city [Philadelphia]." 

Nothing seemed to come up to his expectations, but our rivers: 
" The Kiver Delaware, and Hudson's Eiver, as well as the Sus- 
quehanna, are grand sights. If I had not crossed several large 
rivers before, I should have been surprised in crossing the Sus- 
quehanna. Where we crossed, I believe it Avas eight times 
broader than the Kiver Thames at London bridge." 

Stationed in New York and Philad^^li^hia, he faithfully kept up 
the custom of preaching early in the morning of Sunday and in 
the evening, and attending "church" at midday, for hearing and 
receiving: " Sunday 26. — I preached in the morning at seven, and 
in the evening at the usual time. I found more liberty in the 
morning than I expected. After breakfast I went to St. Paul's, 
as I always have done, to public worship." 

Like entries may be found in the journal of Asbury. When 
he was in New York, he says: "Lord's-day, 13. — I preached this 
morning to a considerable number of people. Mr, K. found his 
spirits raised, and was much comforted. In the afternoon Mr. 



George Sliadford. 



285 



E[ankiii], Captain W[ebl)], and myself, went to St. Pan] 's Clinrcli, 
and received the sacrament. At night Mr. E. dispensed the word 
of trnth with power. It reached the hearts of many, and they 
appeared to be much quickened." 

When Eankin informed Asbury by letter of his purpose to re- 
turn to England, the latter records his own purpose: 

But I can by no means agree to leave such a field for gathering souls to Christ 
as we have in America. It would be an eternal dishonor to the Methodists, that 
v.-e should all leave three thousand souls, who desire to commit themselves to our 
care ; neitlier is it the part of a good shepherd to leave his flock in time of danger ; 
therefore, I am determined, by the grace of God, not to leave them, let the conse- 
quence be what it may. Our friends here appear to be distressed above measure 
at the thoughts of being forsaken by the preachers. So I wrote mv sentiments 
both to Mr. T. K. and Mr. G. S. 

George Shadford was to Asbury as Jonathan to David. " So 
we are left alone," he writes to G. S., after Eankin sailed in 1777. 
T. E. was useful in the London and other circuits, and died at a 
good old age, peacefully and with the love of his brethren. There 
are evidences in Wesley's correspondence that T. E. had made 
representations to him not favorable to Asbury; indeed his recall 
from the American field had once been d.ennitely determined on 
as the result. By losing Eankin, Asbury was saved to the new 
Eepublic which was struggling into existence. It was Asbury' s 
misfortune as long as Wesley lived to be misrepresented to him 
by weak but well-meaning men whom he overshadowed, or by 
designing men whom he overruled. To the credit of Wesley's 
sagacity, notwithstanding the difficulty of obtaining correct in- 
formation, "honest Francis Asbury " stood at the top with him, to 
the last. 

George Shadford was born in Lincolnshire, 1739. His mother 
insisted on his saying his prayers every night and morning, at 
least; and sent him to be catechised by the minister every Sun- 
day. At fourteen years of age his parents sent him to the bishop 
to be confirmed; and at sixteen they desired him to prepare to 
receive the sacrament. "For about a month before it," he says, 
"I retired from all vain company, prayed, and read alone; while 
the Spirit of God set home what I read to my heart. I wept 
much in secret, was ashamed of my past life, and thought I 
would never spend my time on Sundays as I had done. When 
I approached the table of the Lord, it appeared so awful to me 
that I was likely to fall down, as if I was going to the judgment- 



286 



Risfori/ of Method is nh 



seat o£ Clirist. However, very soon my heart was melted down 
like wax before tlie fire. These good impressions continued ahont 
three months. So that I verily believe, had I been acquainted 
with the Methodists at that time, I should have soon found re- 
mission of sins, and peace with God. But I had not a single 
companion that feared God: all were light and trifling. Having 
none to guide or direct me, the devil soon persuaded me to take 
more liberty: and suggested tliat I had repented and reformed 
enough; that there was no need to be always so precise." He 
joined the militia, and, between the strivings of the Si^irit and 
the wickedness of the camp, became very miserable: 

I was often tempted tliis year to i^ut an end to my life; for it was a year of sin- 
ning, and a year of misery. I vs'as afraid to stand by a deep river, lest I should' 
throw n:yself in. If I was on the edge of a great rock, I trembled, and thought 
I must cast myself down, and therefore wjs obliged to retreat suddenly. When I 
have been in the front gallery at church, I have many times been forced to with- 
draw backward, being horribly tempted to cast myself down headlong. It seemed 
as if Satan was permitted to wreak his malice upon me in an uncommon manner; 
but I was wonderfully preserved by an invisible hand, in the midst of such dread- 
ful temptations. At other times, when at prayer, or walking alone meditating, 
God hath graciously given me to taste of the powers of the world to come. 

Xear the military encampment, the Methodists held an out- 
door service; and without any good design, he and his compan- 
ions went to see and hear: 

I was much struck with his manner. He took out his hymn-book, and the peo- 
ple suno- a hvmn. After this he began to pray extempore in such a manner as I 
had never been used to. I thought it to 1 e a most excellent prayer. After this 
he took hi- little Bible out of his p.xktT. r^j-ad over his text, and put it into his 
poL-ktt again. I marveled at this, and tlK-uglit within myself. '•Will he preach 
without a book too?" He began immediately to open the Scriptures; and com- 
pared spiritual things ^vith spiritual, in such a light as I had never heard before. 
I did not suppose that he had studied either at Oxford or Cambridge; but some- 
thin o- struck me, "This is the gift of God; this is the gift of God." The preacher 
spoke much against drunkenness, swearing, etc. ; but I thought I was not much 
guiltv of such sins. At last he -jM .ke very closely against pleasure-takers, and 
proved that such were dead while they live. I thought. •'•'If what he says be true^ 
I am in a most dreadful condition. I thought again. " This must be true: for he 
proves it from the word of God." Immediately I found a kind of judgment-seat 
set up in my conscience, where I was tried, cast, and condemned; for I knew I had 
been seeking happiness in the i3leasures of the world all my days, not in the Cre- 
ator and Eedeemer of my soul. I revolved over and over what I had heard, as I 
went from the preaching; and resolved. ''If this he Methodist preaching, I will 
come aaain:" for I received more light from that single sermion than from all I 
ever heard in my life before. 



Bringing Souls to Christ. 



287 



When liis eulistmeiit as a soldier expired he returned home. 
" I have looked npon it as a kind providence that brought a Meth- 
odist farmer to the place of my nativity, while I y>TiS absent in 
the militia, who received the Methodist preachers, and had formed 
a little Society just ready for me when I got home." His conver- 
sion soon foUovred, for the farmer, one Sunday, gave notice as 
the people vrere leaving the "church,"' where the "minister'' had 
discoursed, that a Methodist would preach in a meeting-house 
that evening, and Shadford went. 

AVe had a full house, and several were greatly affected while he puhlislied his 
crucified Master. Toward tlie latter part of the sermon I tromhled; I shook; I 
wept. I thouglit: "I cannot stand it; I shall fall down amidst all this people." 

0 how gladly would I have been alone to weep! for I was tempted with shame. 

1 stood guilty and condemned, like the publican in the temple. I cried out (so 
that others might hear, being pierced to the heart with the sword of the Spirit), 
"God be merciful to me a sinner I" Xo sooner had I expressed these words, but 
by the eye of faith (not v>'ith my bodily eyes) I saw Christ, my Advocate, at the 
right-hand of God, making intercession for me. I believed he loved me, and gave 
himself for me. The Lord filled my soul with divine love, as quick as lightning; 
so suddenly did the Lord, whom I sought, come to his temple. Immediately my 
eyes flowed with tears, and my heart with love. Tears of joy and sorr(Tw ran 
mingled down my cheeks. O what sweet distress Avas this ! I seemed as if I could 
weep my life away in tears of love. 

Class-meeting led him out into social and public prayer, and 
soon he was an exhorter, trying to bring souls to Christ. But his 
greatest concern was for his father and mother, sister and broth- 
er, all strangers to God. He prayed for them, and must pray 
with them. "One night," says he, "I took courage to speak to 
them, in as humble a manner as I could, with respect to family 
prayer. I told them I believed they had brought us up in the 
fear of God as far as they knew; but we never had any family 
prayer. I added, 'If it is agreeable to you, I will endeavor to 
pray in the best manner I can.' On their consenting, we went 
into another room. I had not spoken many words in prayer be- 
fore they were both in tears. So merciful was the Lord to my 
family that four of them were brought to God in a year." 

Shadford was preaching in Yorkshire when he heard that his 
father was dying and hastened to his bedside: "He said to me: 
' Son, I am glad to see thee; but I am going to leave thee; I am 
going to God; I am going to heaven.' I said, ' Father, are you 
sure of it?' 'Yes,' said he, 'I am sure of it. I know that my 
Redeemer liveth. Upward of four years ago the Lord pardoned 



288 



Ilistoyy of Methodism. 



all my sins; and half a year ago lie gave me that perfect love 
that casts out all fear. At present I feel a heaven within me. 
Surely this heaven below must lead to that heaven above.' " 

The Lord having owned his labors as an exhorter and local 
preacher, "Wesley came into that part of the country and asked 
him if he was willing to give himself up wholly to the great v/ork 
of saving souls from death. "I replied that it was my desire so 
to do. Accordingly, at the Bristol Conference following, I was 
appointed to labor in the west of Cornwall for the year 1768. 
This vvas a good year to me." Every year was a good year 
where George Shadford labored; and it was a good thing for the 
American Circuit when he Avas sent to it in 1773. To its loss, 
he did not abide on this side the Atlantic. His labors were blessed 
in New York and Philadelphia, and in Delavv^are, but especially 
in Virginia, for the country suited him batter than the towns. 
At this last appointment he was much dejected; but he continues: 

I often felt much of this before a remarkable riiaiiifestation of the power and 
presence of God. In preaching and prayer the Lord strips and empties before he 
fills. I saw myself so vile and worthless as I cannot express; and wondered that 
God should employ me in his work. I was amazed when I first began to preach in 
Virginia ; for I seldom preached a sermon but some were convinced and converted, 
often three or four at a time. I could scarcely believe them when they told me. 

Once, coming to a stream he found the flood too high for him 
to reach the bridge. Going back half a mile to a planter's house, 
he was granted lodgings; man and wife and children and servants 
all ignorant of God. " If you will send out and gather the neigh- 
bors, I will loreach." The congregation were at first like vrilcl- 
boars for roughness, but vrere subdued to tolerable order. Next 
day the man shoAved him across the stream, and went to his ap- 
pointment Avith him, and wept under the sermon, and made him 
promise to preach again at his house. "In a short time," says 
Shadford, "he and his wife became deep penitents, and soundly 
converted by the power of God. A A^ery remarkable work began 
from that little circumstance; and before I left Virginia, there 
w^ere sixty or seA^enty raised up in Society in that settlement. 
There were four traveling i3reachers that year in the circuit 
[BrunsAvick]. We added eighteen hundred members." 

By 1778 the pressure became intolerable. Shadford had an 
interAdew with Asbury, and by prayer and fasting they sought to 
know the will of God, whether to leave America or not. Shad- 



The Revolutionary War. 



289 



ford said lie was impressed that his mission here was at an end, 
and that he ought to go. "There must be something wrong," 
said Asbury, " for my conviction is just the opposite, that I ought 
t3 stay." " Nothing wrong," said Shadford. " You may be called 
to stay, and I may be called to go." They wept in each other's 
arms and parted; and so Asbury alone was left of all the preach- 
ers sent out from England. 

Shadford resumed the circuit in England. The unction never 
departed from him. He began his ministry like Gideon, asking 
for sign upon sign ; but the way of duty being plain, his consecra- 
tion was complete, his path grew brighter and brighter, and at the 
end he triumphed gloriously. After becoming supernumerary, 
he had a hundred souls under his care as a class-leader. At an 
inspection of them by Jabez Bunting, it was found that " more 
than ninety were clear in their Christian experience, and many 
of them were living in the enjoyment of the perfect love of God." 
He found a good wife in his latter years, and had a competent 
livelihood. Afflicted in old age with blindness, he was restored 
to sight by a surgical operation. "You will have the pleasure," 
said the surgeon, "of seeing to use your knife and fork again." 
"Doctor," he replied, "I shall have a greater pleasure, that of 
seeing to read my Bible ; " and the first use of his restored sight 
was to read the sacred pages — reading and weeping with inex- 
pressible joy. At the age of seventy-eight, when informed by 
iiis physician that the disease under which he was then suffering 
would be fatal, "he broke out in rapture, exclaiming, 'Glory to 
God!'" "While he lay in view of an eternal world, and was 
asked if all was clear before him, he replied, M bless God it is; ' 
and added, ' Victory, victory, through the blood of the Lamb! ' " 

The situation of Asbury and his companions, at the breaking 
out of the Revolutionary War, was sufficiently embarrassing, even 
in the absence of any provocation beyond their nationality and 
their spiritual vocation. The enmity which their doctrine 
excited, among bigoted sectaries and sinners, would be sure 
to make a sinister use of the fact that they were citizens of a 
foreign nation with which America was engaged in an unequal 
and desperate struggle. However prudent and blameless in con- 
duct, they nevertheless must have been at a serious disadvantage 
in pursuing the itinerant ministry. But it was by the hand of Wes- 
ley himself — strangely enough — ^that the heaviest disability was 
19 



290 



History of Methodism. 



laid upon them. The British Government needed to propitiate 
public opinion to the course it was pursuing toward the Colonies, 
and for this purpose Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote his famous po- 
litical tract, "Taxation no Tyranny." Wesley, wdth but a slight 
abridgment, adopted it, and issued his " Calm Address to the 
American Colonies " in the fall of 1775. It raised a storm about 
his ears; for a considerable party at home believed the Americans 
were just in their cause. "Wesley's enemies, who had been worsted 
in the recent Calvinistic controversy, flew ujjon him furiously. 
Their charge of plagiarism was not without color, unless, as has 
been suggested, a mutual understanding existed betAveen Johnson 
and himself. In a letter to Wesley, dated February 6, 1776, 
Johnson wrote: " I have thanks to return for the addition of your 
important suffrage to my argument on the American question. 
To have gained such a mind as yours may justly confirm me in 
my own opinion. What effect my paper has had upon the pub- 
lic I know not; but I have no reason to be discouraged. The lect- 
urer was surely in the right who, though he saw his audience 
slinking aw^ay, refused to quit the chair while Plato staid." 

All this fell very heavily upon those least able to bear it — the 
Wesleyan preachers and people in America. It may be said, in 
mitigation, that before this "Address to the Colonies," dissuading 
them from fighting for their cause and their grievances, Wesley 
had addressed a letter, in June, to Lord North, the Premier, and 
sent a copy of it to Dartmouth, the Colonial Secretary, dissuad- 
ing them from war. We give an extract from this bold paper — 
this plea for peace with those w^ho were able to make peace: 

But waiving this, waiving all considerations of right and wrong, I ask, Is it com- 
mon sense to use force toward the Americans? A letter now before me, which I 
received. yesterday, says, "Four lumdred of the regulars and forty of the militia 
were killed in tlie late skirmish." What a disproportion is this! And this is the 
first essay of raw men against regular troops. You see, my lord, wdiatever has 
been affirmed, these men will not be frightened; and it seems they will not be con- 
quered so easily as was at first imagined. They will probably dispute every inch 
of ground, and, if they die, die sword in hand. Indeed, some of our valiant offi- 
cers say, "Two thousand men will clear America of these rebels." No, nor twenty 
thousand, be they rebels or not, nor perhaps treble that number. They are as 
strong men as you; they are as valiant as you, if not abundantly more valiant, for 
they are one and all enthusiasts — enthusiasts for liberty. They are calm, delib- 
erate enthusiasts; and we know how this principle breathes into softer souls stern 
love of war, and thirst of vengeance, and contempt of death. We know that men, 
animated with this spirit, will leap into a fire, or rush into a cannon's mouth. 



Wesley Dipinng into Politics. 



291 



"But they are divided amongst themselves." So you are informed by various 
letters and memorials. So, doubt not, was poor Kehoboam informed concerning 
tlie ten tribes. So, nearer our own times, was Philip informed concerning the peo- 
ple of the Netherlands. No, my lord, they are terribly united. The bulk of the 
people are so united that to speak a word in favor of the present English measures 
would almost endanger a man's life. Those who informed me of this, one of whom 
was with me last week, lately come from Phi.ladelpliia, are no sycophants; they 
say nothing to curry favor; they have nothing to gain or lose by me. But they 
speak with sorrow of heart what they have seen with their own eyes, and hfeard 
with their own ears. 

These men think, one and all, be it right or wrong, that they are contending 
pro aris etfocis; for their wives, children, and liberty. What an advantage have 
they herein over many that fight only for pay! none of whom care a straw for the 
cause wherein they are engaged ; most of whom strongly disapprove of it. Have 
they not another considerable advantage? Is there occasion to recruit the troops? 
Their supplies are at hand, and all round about them. Ours are three thousand 
miles off ! Are we then able to conquer the Americans, suppose they are left to 
themselves? Suppose all our neighbors should stand stock-still, and leave us and 
them to fight it out? But we^are not sure of this.'^ 

This long and powerful letter reads like a liistory, rather than 
a prophecy, of the event. If there had been an ocean cable in 
that day, Lord North would hardly have consigned Wesley's 
letter to the official pigeon-hole before a dispatch reached him 
giving the details of the battle of Bunker Hill. Wesley was 
in possession of information on the whole subject which few 
men had. If he must interfere in a matter of so great moment — 
if , having the public ear, he must speak on the impending issue — 
then he is seen laying one hand on the arm of the Government, 
warning the men in power not to begin war, and holding out the 
* other hand to the Colonies, pleading with them not to provoke 
war. Neither party took his advice. The extreme infelicity of 
the case was that, while the Letter to Lord North lay in the State 
archives for nearly a century — its very existence unknown except 
to the Premier and the Colonial Secretary — the "Address to the 
Colonies" was published by tens of thousands of copies, and fell 
with stunning weight upon the missionaries in America. Writ- 

*The public is indebted to George Smith, F.A.S., author of the History of 
Wesleyan Methodism (1857), for a knowledge, though late, of this document. 
Speaking of the Letter to tlie Premier and the copy of it to Lord Dartmouth, he 
says: " The latter still exists in Wesley's handwriting; and the author was offered 
a siglit of this document on his engaging not to publish it. This he respect- 
fully declined; and afterward fortunately obtained a transcript of the one sent to 
Lord North, with full liberty to print it." 



292 



Ilisfoi'U of Metliodism. 



ing to tliem in March of the same year, how to behave in their 
critical situation, he said: " It is your part to be peace-makers; to 
be loving and tender to all; but to addict yourselves to no party. 
In spite of all solicitations, of rough or smooth words, say not 
one word against one or the other side." And in the same letter 
he gave this opinion: "There is now a probability that God will 
hear prayer, and turn the counsels of Ahithopliel into foolish- 
ness. It is not unlikely that peace will be reestablished between 
England and the Colonies." 

That Methodism, known to be so closely associated with Wes- 
ley, survived, is to be attributed to the divinity that was in it. 
It had got hold upon the people, and an able corps of native-born 
preachers had been raised up to carry on the work that had been 
begun. Looking at matters from a prudential point of view, 
John AYesley made two huge and grievous blunders in his life: 
Marrying hastily and meddling with politics. 

Asbury, struggling patiently, bravely, heroically, to stand his 
ground and save the cause, wrote in his journal in 1776: "I re- 
ceived an affectionate letter from Mr. Wesley, and am truly sorry 
that the venerable man ever dipped into the politics of America. 
My desire is to live in love and peace with all men; to do them 
no harm, but all the good I can." So fiercely the tempest raged 
that he was compelled to seek a retreat with his faithful friend 
Judge White, in Delaware, and to abide there, out of public la- 
bor and public view, for over a year. The enforced retirement 
was rich in study and devotion, and in labor within a limited 
sphere. Their recognized and providential leader, he kept up a: 
communication with the preachers in all parts of the wide and 
distracted field; and when the fiercest of the storm of persecution 
was over, while war was yet raging, he came forth when it needed 
him most to guide American Methodism on its important mis- 
sion. Let thanks be given to Him who still "leadeth Joseph 
like a flock." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



Francis Asburj — His Preparation and Ministry — Troubles of Administration — 
Eevival in the Old Brunswick Circuit — Devereux Jarratt — The Preachers Called 
Out — Watters, Dromgoole, Gatch, Bruce, Ellis, Ware, and their fellow-laborers. 



IRANCIS ASBURY was born of peasant parentage in Staf- 



f i fordsliire, four miles from Birmingham, England, in 1745. 
His parents had but two children, and the daughter dying in in- 
fancy was the means of turning the mother to a religious life. 
From his childhood Francis never "dared an oath or hazarded a 
lie," though he confesses himself not free from other sins of youth. 
" The love of truth is not natural; but the habit of telling it," he 
says, "I acquired very early; and so well was I taught that my 
conscience would never permit me to swear profanely. I learned 
from my parents a certain form of words for prayer, and I well 
remember my mother strongly urged my father to family reading 
and prayer; the singing of psalms was much practiced by them 
both. Sometimes I was much ridiculed, and called Methodist 
parson, because my mother invited any people who had the ap- 
pearance of religion to her house. I was sent to school early, 
and began to read the Bible between six and seven years of age, 
and greatly delighted in the historical part of it. My school- 
master was a great churl, and used to beat me cruelly; this drove 
me to prayer, and it appeared to me that God was very near to 
me. My father, having but the one son, greatly desired to keep 
me at school, he cared not how long." 

In this design, however, he was disappointed; for the cruelty 
of the master gave the lad such a horror of school, he chose, 
vvhen thirteen years old, to be apprenticed to business, at which 
he wrought six or seven years. He wa.s awakened in his four- 
teenth year by the conversation and prayers of a pious man, not 
a Methodist, whom his mother invited to the humble hospitalities 
of her house: 

I became yery serious; reading a great deal — Whitefield and Cennick's Ser- 
mons, and every good book I could meet with. It was not long before I began to 
inquire of my mother who, where, what were the Metliodists; she gave me a favor- 
able account, and directed me to a person that could take me to Wednesbury to hear 
them. I soon found this Avas not the Church — but it was better. The people were 
so devout — men and women kneeling down, saying, "Amen." Now, behold ! they 




(293) 



294 



History of Methodism. 



■were singing hymns — sweet sound! Why, strange to tell, the preacher had no 
prayer-hook, and yet he prayed wonderfully ! "What was yet more extraordinary, 
the man took his text, and had no sermon-hook; thought I, This is wonderful in- 
deed! It is certainly a strange way, but the best way. He talked about confi- 
dence, assurance, etc. — of which all my flights and hopes fell short. I had no 
deep convictions, nor had I committed any deejD known sins. At one sermon, some 
time after, my companion was jiowerfully wrought on; I was exceedingly grieved 
that I could not weep like him: yet I knew myself to be in a state of unbelief. 
On a certain time when we were j)raying in my father's barn, I believe the Lord 
pardoned my sins, and justified my soul; but my com23anions reasoned me out of 
this belief, saying, "Mr. Mather said a believer was as ha^Dj^y as if he was in 
heaven." I thought I was not as hapipy as I would be there, and gave up my con- 
fidence, and that for months ; yet I was happy ; free from guilt and fear, and had 
power over sin, and felt great inward joy. After this, we met for reading and 
prayer, and had large and good meetings, and were much persecuted, until the 
persons at whose houses we held them were afraid, and they were discontinued. 
I then held meetings frequently at my father's house, exhorting the j)eople there, 
as also at Sutton-Cofields, and several souls professed to find peace through my la- 
bors. I met class aAvhile at Bromwick Heath, and met in band at Wednesbury. 
I had preached some months before I publicly appeared in the Methodist meeting- 
houses; when my labors became more public and extensive, some were amazed, 
not knowing how I had exercised elsewhere. Behold me now a local preacher; 
the humble and willing servant of any and of every preacher that called on me 
by night or by day, being ready, with hasty steps, to go far and wide to do good, 
visiting Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and indeed almost 
every place within my reach, for the sake of precious souls; jDreaching generally 
three, four, and five times a week, and at the same time pursuing my calling. I 
think Avhen I was between twenty-one and tAventy-two years of age I gave myself 
up to God and his work, after acting as a local preacher near the sjjace of five 
vears. 

From the region iu ^vLicli Methodism was planted with most 
danger and difficulty, where the most furious mobs assailed 
preachers and people, the Lord will draw out and anoint a chosen 
vessel, to bear his name far hence, and give the hated doctrine to 
a continent. It was no sudden impulse, no uncalculated conclu- 
sion that brought Francis Asbury to our shores. He had been a 
traveling preacher four or five j^ears when he went up to the Con- 
ference at Bristol in 1771. " Before this," he says, " I had felt 
for half a year strong intimations in my mind that I should visit 
America; which I laid before the Lord, being unwilling to do 
my own will, or to run before I Avas sent." 

Yolunteers were called for, and five responded and two were 
accepted. Asbary's account is: "I spoke my mind, and made an 
ofter of myself. It was accepted by Mr. AYesley and others, who 
judged I had a call. From Bristol I went home to acquaint my 



Ashiirifs Coming to the New World. 



295 



parents with my great -undertaking, which I opened in as gentle a 
manner as possible. Though it was grievous to flesh and blood, 
they consented to let me go. My mother is one of the tenderest 
parents in the world; but I believe she was blessed in the present 
instance with Divine assistance to part with me." The unusual 
tears which his father shed smote sorely upon the preacher's 
heart when, years afterward, the news of his death reached him 
in the woods of America, where, constrained by the love of 
Christ, he was seeking wandering souls. 

Bristol seems to have been, then, the point of missionary em- 
barkation; and when his affecting leave-takings of parents and 
friends were over, Asbury found himself at the ship, without a 
penny. "Yet," he writes, "the Lord soon opened the hearts of 
friends, who supplied me with clothes and ten pounds; thus I 
found, by experience, that he will provide for those who trust in 
him." The ship sailed on the 4th of September. He had but 
two blankets for his bed, and slept with them on the hard boards 
during the voyage. " I want," he writes, " faith, courage, pa- 
tience, meekness, love. When others suffer so much for their 
temporal interests, surely I may suffer a little for the glory of 
God and the good of souls. I feel my spirit bound to the New 
World, and my heart united to the people, though unknown; and 
have great cause to believe that I am not running before I am 
sent. The more troubles I meet with, the more convinced I am 
that I am doing the will of God. The people God owns in En- 
gland are the Methodists. The doctrines they preach, and the 
discipline they enforce, are, I believe, the x^urest of any people 
in the world. The Lord has greatly blessed these doctrines and 
this discipline in the three kingdoms; they must therefore be 
pleasing to him. If God does not acknowledge me in America, 
I will soon return to England. I know my views are upright now. 
May they never be otherwise! " 

A Christian welcome awaited him at Philadelphia; he thanked 
God and took courage. " When I came near the American shore, 
my very heart melted within me, to think from whence I came, 
where I was going, and what I was going about." A born lead- 
er, he instinctively surveyed the situation, and the impression 
was made that the biggest part of the New World was the coun- 
try, not the towns; and that the ministerial force had been too 
much confined to the latter. A week after landing, his journal 



296 



History of Methodism. 



notes: " November 4. — We held a watcli-niglit. Toward the end, 
a plain man spoke, who came out of the country, a::d his words 
went with great power to the souls of the people; so that we may 
say, 'Who hath despised the day of small things?' not the Lord 
our God; then why should self-important man?" 

Moving on to New York, he preached his opening sermon in 
Embury's chapel on, " I determined not to know any thing among 
you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." "I approved much," 
says he, "of the spirit of the people; they were loving and seri- 
ous; there appeared also in some a love of discipline. Though 
I was unwilling to go to York so soon, I believe it is all well; and 
I still hope I am in the order of God." 

Here he found Boardman, as he had left Pilmoor, settling down 
into winter-quptrters; and we are not surprised at this item in his 
journal: "At present I am dissatisfied, and judge that we are to be 
shut up in the cities this winter. My brethren seem unwilling 
to leave the cities, but I think I shall show them the way." "I 
am come over with an upright intention, and through the grace 
of God I will make it appear, and am determined that no man 
shall bias me with soft words and fair speeches." " Whomsoever 
I please or displease, I will be faithful to God, to the people, and 
to my own soul." In pursuance of this design, he made an ex- 
cursion to West Farms and to Westchester, preaching in court- 
houses, barns, and private houses. He spent the winter alter- 
nately in the city and country, extending his labors to New Iio- 
chelle, to Rye, and to Staten Island, where he preached at the 
houses of Yan Pelt, Wright, and Disosway. Soon there were half 
a dozen preaching-places on the island. This was the beginning 
of Methodism there; and as in many other instances of sowing 
beside all waters, one event connects itself with another afar off. 
When Asbury, as Bishop, pioneered the West, he found a brother 
of his old friend, Peter Yan Pelt, in the French Broad country. 
An instant and most friendly alliance naturally followed their 
meeting, and Benjamin Yan Pelt became a useful local preacher, 
formed several Societies, and built Yan Pelt's Meeting-house — 
an ancient landmark of East Tennessee Methodism. 

It was not long before Boardman was traveling North and East, 
a3 far as Boston; though he made little impression upon the New 
Englanders. Pilmoor went southward; from Norfolk, he extend- 
ed his trip to Charleston and Savannah, and thence returned. 



"Be not Righteous Overmuch.'''' 



297 



No Societies were planted by liim, but something was gained to 
the cause by a survey of the land, and by the people seeing and 
hearing a good Methodist preacher. Norfolk had much labor 
bestowed upon it before it took the rank it has long held as a 
moral city. Asbury found there a hard place, as had Pilmoor, and 
Williams, and Watters, and Wright, and King, before him. Pil- 
moor, passing through Portsmouth on his return from the South, 
came upon two men at the ferry, swearing horribly. He raised 
his hands, and exclaimed: "Well! if I had been brought to this 
place blindfolded, I should have known I was near Norfolk." 

His preaching excited the opposition of the easy-going parish 
clergy of the city, and during his absence the parson attempted 
to turn the tide of feeling against the Methodists by preaching 
on, " Be not righteous overmuch." He assured the people that 
he knew from experience the evil of being overrighteous. To 
his surprise and that of his friends, Pilmoor returned a few days 
after, and gave notice that he would preach on the verse next 
following the parson's text, "Be not overmuch v/icked." The 
people crowded to the preaching-place. Having read the text, 
he said he had been informed that a certain divine of that town 
had given them a solemn caution against being righteous over- 
much. Then lifting his hands, and with a very significant coun- 
tenance, he exclaimed, "And in Norfolk he hath given this cau- 
tion!" 

In October, 1772, by appointment, Asbury became chief or 
General Assistant, having the direction of affairs and the appoint- 
ing of the preachers, subject to Wesley's supervision. Board- 
man quietly fell into a subordinate position, and the itinerancy 
was really inaugurated. Asbury formed a circuit around Phila- 
delphia, as he had done around New York, taking in Chester and 
Wilmington, and sweeping into the Jerseys. He wrote to Will- 
iams, on hearing one of his stirring reports: " I hope that before 
long about seven preachers of us will spread over seven or eight 
hundred miles." 

Upon his new appointment, Asbury moved his head-quarters 
to the center of operations — Baltimore; he "settled" the Society 
into classes, and thus got for the members the benefit of closer 
oversight and of better spiritual edification. Not content with 
preaching at the market-place and in private houses, he moved 
for the building of two churches— Fell's Point and Light Street 



298 



Hist or ij of Metliodism. 



—the first of their kind in a city which has since enjoyed the 
eminence of being a city of Methodist churches. Here, as in New 
York and Philadelphia, he made the city a rallying-point from 
which to extend his labors. Beginning at Baltimore, he by no 
means confined his labors to that place, but traveled extensively 
through various parts of Maryland, preaching every day, form- 
ing into classes those who had been awakened to a sense of their 
sin and their danger, that they might help each other to work out 
their salvation. In December, having gone round that part of 
his circuit wiiich lay on the Western Shore, he crossed the Sus- 
quehanna, in company with John King, to visit that part of it 
which lay on the Peninsula, between Chester Elver and Wilming- 
ton. His circuit lay in six counties. He traveled over it every 
three weeks, about twenty-four appointments— assisted by King, 
Strawbridge, Owen, and other preachers and exhorters. On the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland, particularly in the county of Kent, 
there was a revival of religion, by which many souls were brought 
to the "knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins." Kent 
Circuit was reported the next year, with its meeting-house, the 
first on the Peninsula, which has continued a fruitful field for 
Methodism. The rafters prepared for the chapel were broken in 
the night by enemies; but the Society persisted and prevailed. 

Asbury gives this adventure, on his visit to this point where 
Strawbridge and his exhorters had opened the way. It is a sam- 
ple of the shepherds on whom the Methodists were dependent for 
the sacraments, while they continued to depend on the " clergy: " 

December 12. — Went twelve miles into Kent county, and had many great peo- 
ple to hear me. Before preaching, one Mr. E., a Church minister, came to me 
and desired to know who I was, and whether I was licensed. I told him who I 
was. He spoke great swelling words, and told me he had authority over the peo- 
ple, and was charged with the care of their souls. He also told me that I could 
not and should not preach ; and if I did, he would proceed against me according 
to laAv. I let him know that I came to preach, and preach I would ; and further 
asked him if he had authority to bind the consciences of the people, or if lie was 
a justice of the peace; and told him I thought he had nothing to do with me. 
He charged me with making a schism. I told him that I did not draw the people 
from the cliurch ; and asked him if liis church was then open. He told me that 
I hindered the people from their work; but I asked him if fairs and horse-races 
did not hinder them. And further told him that I came to help him. He said,, 
he had not hired an assistant, and did not want my help. I told him if there 
were no swearers or other sinners, he was sufficient. But said he, "What did you 
come for ? " I replied, " To turn sinners to God." He said, " Cannot I do this as well 



Troubles of Ad minist ration. 



299 



£S you?" I told him that I had authority from God. He then laughed at me, and 
said, "You are a fine fellow, indeed!" I told him I did not do this to invalidate 
his authority; and also gave him to understand that I did not wish to dispute with 
him; but he said he had business with me, and came into the house in a great rage. 
I began to preach, and urged the people to repent and turn from all their trans- 
gressions, so iniquity should not prove their ruin. After preaching, the parson 
went out, and told the people they did wrong in coming to hear me, and said I 
spoke against learning, whereas I only spoke to this purpose: wdien a man turned 
from all sin, he would adorn every character in life, both in Church and State. 

Early in the spring lie started North, wandering off the direct 
route right and left, with his gospel message, till he came to New 
York. "Trouble is at hand," writes Asbury, "but I cannot fear 
while my heart is upright with God. I seek nothing but him, 
and fear nothing but his displeasure." 

On leaving the Southern Circuit he notes a fact which charac- 
terized his ministry: "Felt much power while preaching on per- 
fect love. The more I speak on this subject, the more my soul 
is filled and drawn out in love. This doctrine has a great tend- 
ency to prevent people from settling on their lees." He had 
thoroughly accepted this Wesleyan doctrine, though up to this 
point there is no unequivocal record of his experience of it. He 
seems to have settled upon this view: That if a preacher is con- 
vinced of the truth of a doctrine he ought to preach it, whether 
he himself has personally experienced it or not; the gift of God 
and the privileges of believers are not to be measured by the at- 
tainments of the messenger, but by the terms of the message; the 
advice of Peter Bohler, on preaching faith, may be applied to 
Christian perfection — preach it until you have it, and then be- 
cause you have it you will preach it. 

Troubles of administration frequently arose — that plague in 
the planting of missions distant from the seat of authority — and 
Asbury had come to settle them. Pilmoor and Wright were 
liighly displeased with him about something, and the gentle 
Boardman, like enough, did not relish the shaking-up that As- 
bury was giving to men and things. There was too much of mil- 
itary movement and drill to suit their views, and they as well as 
he were relieved by the coming of Thomas Pankin to supersede 
him. On hearing his successor's sermon, he made this note : " He 
will not be admired as a preacher; but as a disciplinarian, he 
will fill his place." Before T. P. left America, Asbury thought 
more of his preaching than of his administrative ability. 



300 



History of Methodism. 



Conference at Philadelphia (1773) being concluded, Asbury, in 
a notice of its proceedings, gives this hint of the cause of his 
troubles: "There were some debates among the preachers in this 
Conference relative to the conduct of some who had manifested 
a desire to abide in the cities and live like gentlemen. Three 
years out of four have already been spent in the cities. It VN^as 
also found that money had been wasted, improper leaders ap- 
pointed, and many of our rules broken." Asbury was sent to 
Baltimore, where he finished what he had begun by putting Meth- 
odism on a firm footing, well organized in the city and in the 
strong centers within reach of it: 

Asbury's usefulness in the Baltimore Circuit at this time had permanently im- 
portant results. He gathered into the young Societies not a few of those influen- 
tial families whose opulence and social position gave material strength to Meth- 
odism through much of its early history in that city, while their exemplary devo- 
tion helped to maintain its primitive purity and power. Henry Dorsey Gougli 
and his family were distinguished examples. Gough possessed a fortune in lands 
and money amounting to more than three hundred thousand dollars. He liad 
married a daughter of Governor Ridgeley. His country residence — Perry Hall, 
about twelve miles from the city — was "one of the most spacious and elegant in 
America at that time." But he was an unhappy man in the midst of his luxury. 
His wife had been deeply impressed by the Methodist preaching, but he forbade 
her to hear them again. While reveling with wine and gay companions, one 
evening, it was proposed that they should divert themselves by going together to a 
Methodist assembly. Asbury was the preacliei', and no godless diversion could be 
found in his presence. " What nonsense have we heard to-night ! " exclaimed one 
of the convivialists, as they returned. "No," replied Gough, startling them with 
sudden surprise; "what we have heard is the truth, the truth as it is in Jesus." 
"I will never hinder you again from hearing the Methodists," he said, as he en- 
tered his house and met his wife."^ 

He was converted; both he and his wife joined the Methodists, 
and his house became a preaching-place and an asylum for the 
itinerants. A chapel was built contiguous to Perry Hall, and he 
built another chapel for the Methodists in a poor neighborhood. 
After some years Gough fell away, but under the ministry of 
Asbury was reclaimed in 1800. After his reclamation he ex- 
claimed: " O if my wife had ever given way to the world I should 
have been lost! but her uniformly good life inspired me with the 
hope that I should one day be restored to the favor of God." 
He died in 1808, while the General Conference was in session in 
Baltimore. Asbury, who had twice led him to the cross, was 



^'Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. I. 



Perry Hall — Asburifs Social Power. 



301 



present to comfort liim in his final trial. The Bishop describes 
him as " a man much respected and beloved; as a husband, a father, 
and a master, well worthy of imitation; his charities were as nu- 
merous as proper objects to a Christiaji were likely to make them; 
and the sonls and the bodies were administered to in the manner 
of a Christian who remembered the precepts and followed the 
example of his Divine Master." 

Asbury's journals have rendered the name of Perry Hall fa- 
miliar. A veteran itinerant has drawn the picture of its Chris- 
tian hospitalities: 

We were received in their usual warm and affectionate way, and I was for tlie 
first time introduced to that dear household. I soon found that religion in its na- 
tive simplicity dwelt in some great houses, and that some of the rich had been cast 
in tlie gospel mold, and came out in the image and likeness of their Lord. Perry 
Hall was the largest dwelling-house I had ever seen, and all of its arrangements, 
within and without, were tasteful and elegant, yet simplicity and utility seemed to 
be stamped upon the whole. The garden, orchards, and every thing else, were de- 
lightful indeed, and looked to me like an earthly paradise. But, what jDleased me 
better than any thing else, I found a neat chapel attached to the house, with a small 
cupola, and a bell that could be heard all over the farm. In this chapel morning 
and evening prayers were offered to God. The bell rang about half an hour be- 
fore prayer, when the manager and servants from the farm-house, and servants' 
quarters and garden, together with the inhabitants of the great mansion, repaired 
to the chapel. So large and well-regulated a family I never saw before. 

If no minister Avere present, Mrs. Gough read a chapter and 
gave out a hymn which was sung by the negro servants, and she 
prayed. Asbury was poor, and he loved and lived with the poor 
and served them; but it was a feature of his character that with- 
out seeking the great or compromising with fashionable sins and 
vanities, he had the power of making homes where his Master 
made his grave — with the rich. He entered the house of many 
a Zaccheus, bringing salvation with him. There was a simplic- 
ity and genuine refinement in manners, an unfeigned warmth of 
heart, an unassumed dignity of person and presence, an impres- 
sion of goodness and worth, that made people love and venerate 
him. Over the Middle and Southern States especially some of 
his far apart resting-places are familliar to the readers of his 
journal: Perry Hall, in Maryland; Bassett's and White's, in Del- 
aware; Dromgoole's, in Virginia; Emond Taylor's and Green 
Hill's, in North Carolina; Eembert Hall, in South Carolina; 
General Eussell's, over the mountains. 



302 



Hisfonj of Methodism. 



Kiudred spirits as well as neigliboring fields brought Asbury 
and his co-laborers acquainted with Deverenx Jarratt, of Bath 
Parish, Dinwiddle county, Yirginia. If all the clergy had been 
like him, there would have been no Methodists; but he stood 
alone among the parish priests, with the exception of Archibald 
McRoberts, of Chesterfield, wdio, to complete the general abandon- 
ment of the field, in 1779 united himself with the Presbyterians. 

Jarratt was a natiye of Yirginia, born in 1732. He was sent 
to a plain school, and in the vacations divided his time between 
working on the farm and training race-horses and game-cocks. 
Occasionally he worked as a carpenter, which trade his father 
had foUovred before him. At nineteen he determined to be a 
teacher. Hearing of a situation in Albermarle county, he set 
out to find it, and was engaged at £9, 7s. per annum. The third 
year he taught in the family of a pious lady who greaHy assisted 
him in his religious life. He now became deeply concerned about 
the salvation of his soul, and determined to take orders in the 
Established Church. Having saved sufiicient money to pay his 
expenses, he sailed for England in the fall of 1762. He had to 
wait until the following spring before he received ordination. 

Taking charge of his parish, he began to preach and to travel, 
and like the Methodists to put awakened souls into Societies. 
When he first administered the communion, only seven or eight 
of the more aged at church came forward to receive it; twelve 
years later, at three churches included in Bath Parish, there were 
a thousand communicants. This is Jarratt's description of his 
preaching at this time : 

Instead of moral harangues, and advising my hearers in a cool, dispassionate 
manner to walk in the primrose j)aths of a decided, sublime, and elevated virtue, 
and not to travel the foul track of disgraceful vice (the favorite style of preacliing 
in that day), I endeavored to enforce in the most alarming colors the guilt of sin, 
the entire depravity of human nature, the awfal danger mankind are in, by nature 
and by practice, the tremendous cui'se to whicli they are obnoxious, and their utter 
inability to evade the sentence of the law and the stroke of divine justice by their 
own power, merit, or good works. Ignorance of the things of God, profaneness, 
and irreligion, then prevailed among all ranks and degrees; so that I doubt if even 
the form of godliness was to be found in any one family of this large and populous 
parish. I was a stranger to the people ; my doctrines were quite new to them, and 
were neither preached nor believed by any other clergyman, so far as I could learn, 
throughout the province. 

The usual result followed, and his evangelical labors were called 



Devereux Jarratt. 



303 



for in several counties, not without remonstrance from some of 
liis brethren at his irregularities. When the Established clergy 
began to forsake the sinking ship, J arratt stood at his post. He 
welcomed the Methodists and heartily cooperated with them, 
adopting their methods, and by administering the sacraments 
did all that one man could do to keep down their rising dissatis- 
faction about the ordinances. It is to be regretted that this good 
man, when the Methodist flock failed to be gathered into his fold, 
became alienated from them, and was led to speak and write de- 
preciatingly of a Christian body which elected not to fall within 
his ecclesiastical lines. For awhile he not only labored with them 
and was blessed in his deed, but he bore their reproach. During 
the revival on Brunswick Circuit, in which Devereux Jarratt took 
so eminent a part, he attended a convention of his Church at 
Williamcburg, and was treated so unkindly, and heard the doc- 
trines of Christianity so ridiculed, that he was minded to attend 
no more. In 1785 he was present at another in Hichmond, but 
was so coldly received that he remained only a few hours and then 
rode'-home. He was better received at the convention of 1790, 
which elected their first bishop; at that of 1792 he preached the 
opening sermon. On his way home he was requested to take 
part in an ordination at Petersburg. In the examination he re- 
fused two 6i the candidates as unfit for the office. "But what did 
that avail?" says he. "Another clergyman was called in, and I 
had the mortification to hear both of them ordained the same day. 
I say hear, for it was a sight I did not wish to see." He sat in 
a pew in the corner, his head covered with his handkerchief. 
The Bishop's excuse was that "ministers were so scarce, we must 
not be too strict." 

In 1775 George Shadford went to Brunswick Circuit with 
Dromgoole and Glendenning. The revival which had begun un- 
der Mr. Jarratt is best described by himself. How nearly he ap- 
proached the Methodists, and how useful he found their means 
of grace, will appear from the account he sent to Wesley through 
Hankin : 

In the years 1770 and 1771 we had a more considerable outpouring of the Spir- 
it, at a place in my parish called White Oak. It was here first I formed the peo- 
ple into a Society, that they might assist and strengthen each other. The good 
effects of this were soon apparent. Convictions were deep and lasting ; and not 
only knewledge but faith and love and holiness continually increased. In the 
year 1772 the revival was more considerable, and extended itself in some places 



304 



History of Methodism. 



for fifty or sixty miles around. It increased still more in the following year, and 
several sinners were truly converted to God. In spring, 1774, it was more remark- 
able than ever. The word preached was attended with such energy that many 
were pierced to the heart. Tears fell plentifully from the eyes of the hearers, and 
some were constrained to cry out. The work increased in 1775, but was more con- 
siderable in January, 1776. It broke out nearly at the same time, at three places 
not far from each other. Two of these places are in my parish, the other in Ame- 
lia county, which had for many years been notorious for carelessness, profaneness, 
and immoralities of all kinds. Some time last year, one of my parish (now a local 
preacher) appointed some meetings among them, and after awhile induced a, 
small number to join in Society. And though a few, if any of them, were believ- 
ers, yet this was a means of preparing the way of the Lord. 

As there Avere few converts in my parish last year [1775], I was sensible a change 
of preachers Avas Avanting. This has often revived the Avork of God ; and so it did at 
the present time. Last December, one of the Methodist preachers, Mr. S[had- 
ford], preached several times at the three places above mentioned. He confirmed 
the doctrine I had long preached ; and to many of them not in vain. And Avhile 
their ears AA^ere opened by novelty, God set his word home upon their hearts. 
Many sinners Avere powerfully convinced, and "Mercy!" "Mercy!" Avas their cry. 
In January the neAvs of convictions and conversions Avas common; and the people 
of God Avere inspired with new life and vigor by the happiness of others. But in 
a little time they Avere made thoroughly sensible that they themselves stood in 
need of a deeper Avork in their own hearts than they had yet experienced. And 
AA'hile those were panting and groaning for pardon, these Avere entreating God, Avitli 
strong cries and tears, to save them from the remains of inbred sin, to "sanctify 
them throughout in spirit, soul, and body;" so to "circumcise their hearts" that 
they might "love God Avith all their hearts," and serve him Avith all their 
strength. 

The outpouring of tlie Spirit Avhich began here soon extended itself, more or 
less, through most of the circuit, Avhich is regularly attended by the traveling 
preachers, and Avhicli takes in a circumference of betAveen four and five hundred 
miles. The unhappy disputes betAveen England and her Colonies, Avhich just be- 
fore had engrossed all our conversation, seemed noAV in most companies to be for- 
got, Avliile things of far greater importance lay so near the heart. 

One of the doctrines, as you know, Avhich Ave particularly insist upon, is that of 
a present salvation; a salvation not only from the guilt and poAver but also from 
the root of sin ; a cleansing from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that Ave may per- 
fect lioline&o in the fear of God; a going on to perfection, which Ave sometimes de- 
fine by loving God Avith all our hearts. Several Avho had believed Avere deeply 
sensible of their Avant of this. I have seen both men and Avomen, AA'ho had long 
been haj^py in a sense of God's pardoning love, as much convicted on account of 
the remains of sin in their hearts, and as much distressed for a total deliverance 
from them, as ever I saw any for justification. Their Avhole cry Avas: 

"O that I now the rest might know, 
Believe and enter in ! 
Now, Saviour, now the power bestow, 
And let me cease from sin ! " 

And I have been present Avhen they believed that God ansAvered this prayer, 



The Brunswick Bevival. 



305 



and bestowed this blessing upon them. I have conversed with them several times 
since, and have found them thoroughly devoted to God. They all testify that they 
have received the gift instantaneously, and by simple faith. We have sundry wit- 
nesses of this perfect love wJio are above all suspicion. 

This reads as it a Methodist had written it. Jarratt describes 
further how mourners were helped by class-meetings and love- 
feasts; how ^'in a moment the Lord spoke peace to their souls" 
and they rejoiced in the witness of the Spirit. " Where the great- 
est work was," he says, "where the greatest number of souls have 
been convinced and converted to God, there have been the most 
outcries, tremblings, convulsions, and all sorts of external signs. 
I took all the pains I could that these might be kept within 
bounds, that our good might not be evil spoken of. This I did, 
not by openly inveighing against them in the public assembly, 
but by private advices to local preachers and others, as op- 
portunity would permit. This method had its desired effect, 
without putting a sword into the hands of the wicked." This 
revival of religion spread through fourteen counties in Virginia, 
and through old Bute and Halifax counties in North Carolina; 
at the same time, in several counties bordering upon Maryland. 

Shadford carried up a glowing account to Conference, in May, 
1776, at Baltimore, and Jarratt followed him with a joyful letter: 
" I praise God for his goodness, in so plentifully pouring out of his 
Spirit on men, women, and children. I believe threescore, in and 
near my parish, have believed, through grace, since the quarterly- 
meeting. Such a work I never saw with my eyes. Sometimes 
twelve, sometimes fifteen, find the Lord at one class-meeting. I 
am just returned from meeting two classes. Much of the power 
of God was in each. My dear partner is now happy in God her 
Saviour. I clap my hands exulting, and praise God. Blessed 
be the Lord, that ever he sent you and your brethren into this 
part of his vineyard! " 

Asbury had been sent to a hard field that year. He found in 
Norfolk thirty persons in Society, with no regular class-meet- 
ings, and no place of worship but an " old, shattered play-house; " 
and twenty-seven in Portsmouth, who by discipline were soon 
reduced one-half. Like himself, he circled far and near, doing 
in the country what he failed to do in the two towns. With joy 
he took a laborious vacation in October. " He TSTites : " I expect 
to go to Brunswick shortly, and my heart rejoices in hope of see- 
20 



306 



Histonj of Methodism. 



ing good days, and many souls brought to God in those parts." 
One week after: "I am now within a few miles of dear Brother 
George Shadford; my soul catches the holy fire already." And 
soon he had his brother Englishman in his arms and gave him 
" the holy kiss," and they joined hands and hearts in their loved 
employ. 

Let us glance at the helpers raised up in America, upon v/hom 
devolved preaching the word and the extension of the v>^ork after 
the English missionaries were withdrawn. The Lord of the har- 
vest wonderfully supplied their places. 

AYilliam Watters was born in Baltimore county, 1751, and was 
converted in his twentieth year. His third sermon was preached 
in " Baltimore town," as he was being taken out into the itiner- 
ancy the next year, by Williams going toward the South. His 
account of himself and his times shows how promptly the pioneer 
preachers put their converts to work: 

My conversion was (in that dark day and place) much talked of, as also my 
praying in a short time after "without a book, which, to some, appeared a proof 
that there was a notable miracle wrought on me indeed. We liad no regular 
preaching in those days, nor had there ever been but three Methodist preachers 
in Maryland — Williams, Strawbridge, and King — so that we Avere frequently for 
months with very little preaching, and then for weeks we liad it frequently, but 
in one sense we were all preacliers; the visible cliange that sinners coidd not but 
see, and many openly acknowledged, was a means of bringing them to seek the 
Lord. On the Lord's-day we commonly divided into little bands, and went out 
into different neighborhoods, wherever there Avas a door open to receive us — two, 
three, or four in company — and would sing our liymns, pray, read, talk to the peo- 
ple, and some soon began to add a word of exhortation. We were weak, but we 
lived in a dark day, and the Lord greatly owned our labors; for though we were 
not full of wisdom, we were blessed with a good degree of faith and j)ower. The 
little flock was of one heart and mind, and the Lord spread the leaven of his grace 
from heart to heart, from house to house, and from one neighborhood to another; 
and though our gifts were very small, yet it was astonishing to see how rapidly 
the work spread all around, bearing down the little oppositions with which it met, 
as chaff' before the wind. Many will praise God forever for our prayer-meetings. 
In many neighborhoods they soon became respectable, and were considerably at- 
tended to."^ 

Two of Watters's brothers were converted through his instru- 
mentality, one of them becoming a zealous local preacher, and 
later a traveling preacher. He was a meek and judicious man, 
and rendered valuable service by diffusing socially a healthful, 



Christian Experience and Ministerial Labor of Wm. Watters." Drawn up 
by himself. Printed at Alexandria, 1806. 



Waiters and Owen. 



307 



loving spirit, as well as by preaching. Such items as this, on 
the Sussex Circuit (1778), marked his ministry: "I did not get 
round the circuit the second time, before the Lord was gracious- 
ly pleased to pour out his Spirit in a very unusual manner, just 
after I had been preaching, and was meeting the class. The 
windows of heaven were opened, and the Lord poured out such 
a blessing as our hearts were not able to contain. We were so 
filled with the love of God, and overawed with his divine majes- 
ty, that we lay prostrate at his footstool, scarcely able to rise from 
our knees for a considerable time, while there were strong cries 
and prayers from every part of the house for that ' perfect love 
which casteth out all fear that hath torment.' " He was not a great 
preacher ; but, closing up a happy and prosperous year, he gives 
the key to his success: " The most glorious work that ever I be- 
held was in this circuit amongst believers. Scores professed to 
be sanctified unto the Lord. I could not be satisfied without 
pressing on Christians their privilege; and indeed I could not but 
remark that however able the speakers, if nothing of the sancti- 
fication of the Spirit was dwelt on, believers appeared not to be 
satisfied, and that however weak, if they from the fullness of their 
hearts and in faith exhorted believers to go on to perfection, the 
word was blessed." 

The severest language we have found in all that is published 
by William Walters was (1806) in defense of his bishop: "But 
a greater charge than the love of power has been brought against 
Mr. Asbury (though I believe only by a few) ; even that of the 
love of money. I think a devil ought to blush (if it were pos- 
sible) at such a charge." 

To Richard Owen belongs the distinction of heading the long 
roll of American Methodist preachers. Watters, the first itiner- 
ant among them, thus speaks of him: 

ThoQgli encnmberecl with a family, he often left wife and children and a com- 
fortable living, and went into many distant parts, before we had any traveling 
preachers amongst us, and without fee or reward freely published that gospel to 
others which he had happily found to be the power of God unto his own salvation. 
And after we had regular circuit preachers amongst us, he as a local preacher was 
ever ready to fill up a gap; and by his continuing to go into neighborhoods where 
they had no preaching, he was often the means of opening the way for enlarging 
old or forming new circuits in different places. Several years before his dissolu- 
tion, after his children were grown up and able to attend his family concerns, he 
gav€^ himself up entirely to the work of the ministry, and finished his course in 



308 



History of Metliodism. 



Leesburg, Fairfax Circuit, in the midst of many kind friends, but some distance 
from liis family. 

Philip Gatcli, connected witli the best history of Methodism 
in both the East and the West, was born near Georgetown, Mary- 
land, in 1751.* He and Watters began their public labors as ex- 
horters the same year, and they were the first two native Method- 
ist preachers reported in the Minutes. He had early awaken- 
ings, but there was no one to take him by the hand and lead him 
to the fountain of life. From a child the Spirit of grace strove 
Avith him. "It pleased God," he says, "to send the gospel into 
our neighborhood in 1772, through the instrumentality of the 
Methodists. Nathan Perigau [a local preacher converted under 
Strawbridge] introduced Methodist preaching where I lived. I 
was near him when he opened the first meeting. His prayer 
alarmed me much. The sermon was accompanied to my under- 
standing by the Holy Ghost. I was stripped of all self-right- 
eousness. I saw myself alogether sinful and helpless, while the 
dread of hell seized my guilty conscience." Gatch heard Peri- 
gau again, and his trouble increased. He says: 

On the 26th of April I attended a prayer-meeting. After remaining some time, 
I gaye np all hopes, and left the house. I felt that I was too bad to remain where 
the people were worshiping God. At length a friend came out to me, and requested 
me to return to the meeting; believing him to be a good man, I returned with him, 
and, under the deepest exercise of mind, bowed myself before the Lord, and said 
in my heart, "If thou wilt give me power to call on thy name, how thankful will 
I be ! " Immediately I felt the power of God to affect me, body and soul. I felt 
like crying aloud. God said, by his Spirit, to my soul, " My power is present to 
heal thy soul, if thou wilt but belieye." I instantly submitted to the operation of 
the Spirit of God, and my poor soul was set at liberty. I felt as if I had got into 
a new world. I was certainly brought from hell's dark door, and made nigh unto 
God by the blood of Jesus. I Avas the first person known to shout in that part of 
the country. A grateful sense of the mercy and goodness of God to my poor soul 
oyerwhelmed me. I tasted, and saw that the Lord was good. Two others found 
peace the same evening, which made seven conyersions in the neighborhood. 1 
returned home happy in the love of God. 

His father received him ungraciously. " There is your elder 
brother," the father had said to him, " he has better learning than 
you; if there is any thing good in it, why does he not find it out? " 
But this elder brother was "powerfully converted" at the same 
meeting with Philip. The brothers introduced family prayers, 

"^Sketch of Eey. Philip Gatch, prepared by Hon. John McLean, LL.D., Judge 
of the Supreme Court of the United States. Cincinnati, 1854. | 



Gafch, Pei'igaUj Bromgoole. 



309 



and Philip Gaicli's first exliortation was at liome. "Tlie Lord 
blessed me," he says, " with a spirit of prayer, and he made mani- 
fest his saving power among ns. I rose from my knees and spoke 
to them some time, and it had a gracions effect upon the family, 
Thenceforward we attended to family prayer." 

Perigan was soon preaching in the house. Classes were formed ; 
Gatch's parents, most of their children, a brother-in-laAv and two 
sisters-in-law, were in a few weeks recorded among the class- 
members. "The work was great, for it was the work of God." 
Philip was soon exhorting, and then as a preacher he went to 
Xew Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland, feeble in frame, yet faith- 
fully itinerating and preaching. His judgment, modesty, deep 
spirituality, and his courage, made him the man for difficult places. 
Whitworth and Ebert, two apostate preachers, had scandalized 
the cause on the Eastern Shore and in Xew Jersey, and within 
twelve months Gatch was sent to both places to recover the 
ground that had been lost. He succeeded, and the tide was 
turned. Gatch manumitted his slaves, and subsequently removed 
to Ohio, where he took part in the civil as well as religious or- 
ganization of the territory, and vv^as called Judge Gatch. His 
posterity are honorably known in Church and State. He died 
the same year with his old friend and comrade, Dromgoole. 

Edward Dromgoole' s name appears on the Conference list of 
1774. A. native of Sligo, he renounced popery before leaving 
his own land, and was brought to a saving knowledge of Christ 
in America: emigrated about 1770, and worked awhile with a 
Christian man as a journeyman tailor. After his family came to 
opulence and high social position, the thimble with which he 
wrought was preserved as a relic and an heirloom. He heard his 
countryman, Strawbridge; was converted, and began to preach; 
and the next year was sent to Baltimore Circuit with Shadford 
and two other recruits. A native gift of oratory and an elevated 
and commanding character were developed during the next twelve 
years which he spent in the itinerancy. In Virginia, North Car- 
olina, and Maryland, the fine results of his influence were in- 
wrought into the social and religious life of Methodism. Mar- 
rying, he located and made his home in Brunswick county; and 
ilied in 1835, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. 

As a local preacher he was greatly useful. The blessing of 
God came upon his household, and he increased in worldly goods. 



310 



History of Methodism. 



Mary Walton, his wife, a native of Brunswick, bore him ten 
children; and their happy union lasted forty-nine years. His 
numerous family, including many slaves, were brought under 
Christian influence, and his large hospitality was tested by the 
entertainment of a Conference. Asbury preached at his house 
so late as 1815, and ordained him an elder on that occasion. In 
1813 he wrote to his fellow-laborer, Philip Gatch: " We are still 
living in old Brunswick, and nearly in the common way of the 
country. My five oldest children are professors, and in Society. 
Our youngest child is sixteen years of age. He is moral, but not 
a professor yet. May the Lord bring him into the fold! Two 
of my sons are preachers. I am yet endeavoring to labor in my 
Master's vineyard." 

His youngest son was afterward a leading Congressman of that 
day; * and his grandson was a member of the faculty that organ- 
ized Lagrange College, Alabama, and subsequently held a pro- 
fessorship in Bandolph-Macon College, Virginia. He w^ent to 
Germany, and spent three years in travel and at the University of 
Halle, perfecting his studies in literature and science. He was 
filling a chair in the University of Alabama when he died in 1845, 
in his forty-first year. The Church lost in him one of her ripest 
scholars and one of her purest and most devoted ministers-f 

Among the nine preachers added to the itinerant ranks of the 
Conference in 1776, there are names not to be forgotten. 

Isham Tatum was for eight years a laborious pioneer in the new 
and hard fields of Virginia and North Carolina. He "desisted 
from traveling" in 1781. At the time of his death he was the 
oldest Methodist preacher in the United States, if not in the 
world. Freeborn Garrettson was born in Maryland, 1752. Awak- 
ened under the rough warning of an exhorter, he was converted 
in 1775, and became a burning and shining light. He inherited 
wealth, but manumitted his slaves. He traveled through all the 
Southern field with power; enduring persecution even to impris- 
onment and bloody wounds, like others of his brethren. He then 
volunteered for Nova Scotia, and labored there successfully; after 

*Hon. Geo. C. Dromgoole. 

fProf. Edward D. Sims. He had given special attention to the Anglo-Saxon 
and all the dialects from which the English language is drawn. It is to be re- 
gretted that the material he collected for an Anglo-Saxon grammar, and which 
he was about publishing, has never been utilized. 



Poi/thress, Pedicord, Dkkins, mid Others. 



311 



which the State of New York was the scene of his apostolic la- 
bors. He died in his seventy-sixth year. To specify one more 
— Francis Poythress, a not less distinguished name, joined the 
itinerant ranks the same year. A native Virginian; he was con- 
verted under Jarratt's ministry, brought eminent ability to the 
service of Methodism, and was at one time desired by Asbury as 
his assistant and successor. In Kentucky he bore the banner 
for years, after a like ministry in the East. 

The list of fourteen preachers admitted on trial into the Con- 
ference of \1777 is rich in historic names. John Tunnell, after 
preaching from New Jersey to Carolina, planted Methodism in 
the fertile Holston Conference, and was the first itinerant to make 
his grave within its boundaries. Reuben Ellis was one of the 
most judicious and useful of the wise master-builders who laid the 
foundations. Caleb Pedicord was eloquent in sermon and song. 
Le Roy Cole was attracted to " Methodism as the best exponent 
of Christianity," and although educated for the ministry in the 
Church of England, he hesitated not to embrace the sacrifices 
of an itinerant's life. He meekly bore contumely and wrong in 
his Master's cause, outlived it all, and retired for a time to the 
local ranks; but again entered the itinerancy, and did much to 
forward the cause of Methodism in the far West, whither he 
emigrated in 1808. 

Besides these and other natives of the South, John Dickins — 
Asbury' s countryman — was a man of mark. While on a circuit in 
North Carolina, he helped him to plan for a Kings wood School in 
America, which " came out a college in the subscription printed 
by Dr. Coke." He aided in starting and putting into successful 
operation the "Book Concern," and by "his skill and fidelity as 
editor, inspector, and corrector of the press," enabled Methodism 
to lay wide and deep foundations for a Church literature. One 
said that it might be written on his tomb with truth: "Here lietli 
he who, in the cause of God, never feared or flattered man." 
For many years his son, Hon. Asbury Dickins, was clerk of the 
United States Senate, respected and trusted, and retained in of- 
fice by all parties. Dickins had studied at Eton College, and 
was specially fitted to inaugurate a religious publishing house. 

John Majors and Richard Ivey appeared in 1778, and later 
Thomas Humphreys and Wm. Partridge. They responded when 
laborers were called for to possess South Carolina and Georgia. 



312 



Hi story of Methodism. 



Philip Bruce and John Easter \yere admitted into full connec- 
tion, after two years' probation, in 1783. John Easter was the 
most powerful hortatory preacher of his day. Perhaps no man 
has ever been more honored of God in the conversion of souls. 
Thousands were brought to God under his ministry, and among 
them were some of the brightest lights of Methodism, both in 
the laity and in the ministry. AYilliam McKendree and Enoch 
George were the spiritual children of John Easter. He was a 
native of Mecklenburg, Virginia. 

Philip Bruce v/as born in North Carolina, near King's Mount- 
ain, in 1755 — descended from the Huguenots. The family name 
was De Bruise, but was corrupted into Bruce by a Scotch teach- 
er from wdiom Philip received his education. He was the first 
of his family to become a Methodist. When a youth, the pio- 
neer preachers reached the wild region of his home, and under 
their preaching many were brought to God, among them Philip 
Bruce. His parents were the first-fruits of his labors. In per- 
son he w^as tall and straight; very grave and dignified in his man- 
ners; his hair was worn long, his visage was thin, his complexion 
dark, and his eyes bright and piercing; his countenance was open 
and expressive; his features indicative of intellectual power. In 
the pulpit he was graceful and impressive. His sermons were usu- 
ally short, but he excelled in the application. His appeals were 
often irresistible. In one of his episcopal tours Bishop Asbury 
as usual had sent ahead an appointment for preaching. The 
Bishop remarked: " Now, Philip, I intend to pile up the brush 
to-night, and you must set it on fire." Philip Bruce professed, 
preached, and exemplified sanctification. Like most of the early 
preachers, he never married. His wisdom in counsel caused, the 
Church to use him in important situations.'^ 

In the same year, a class of nineteen was admitted on trial; 
and Jesse Lee, Thomas Ware, and William Phoebus were among 
them. Ware was a noble and consecrated man, and itinerated 
in the power of the Spirit from his native New Jersey, through 
the Carolinas and to Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Jesse Lee 
was late in entering the itinerancy, but he had not been idle as 
an exhorter and local preacher. His preaching and literary la- 

*In old age lie removed to Tennessee, and liis grave is with kindred dust near 
Pulaski. He died in 1826— the oldest traveling preacher in the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, at the time, with the exception of Freeborn Garrettson. 



Fit Instruments for the Xeic Era. 



313 



bor and his planting Methodism in Kew England have made his 
memorial. The time wonld fail ns to tell of Ira Ellis, and John 
Littlejohn, and John Haggerty, and Isaac Smith; of AYilson Lee, 
and James Haw, who broke ground as the first missionary to 
Kentucky; of Ignatius Pigman, and Jeremiah Lambert, and Nel- 
son Reed, and Henry Willis, and David Abbott, and James Foster. 
They will come into view again. Such men were the gift of God. 
Their calling and sending forth could be from none other than 
the Lord of the liarA^est. Inured to toil and privation, conse- 
crated and anointed, they were fit instruments, providentially 
prepared, for the era that was now beginning. 

Had Joseph Benson been yielded, by the British Conference, 
to the appeals that were made for him, he would, by his learning 
and eloquence, have pleased the great cities; but he would also 
have ranked and superseded Asbury, who was infinitely better 
suited for the leadership American Methodism then needed. 
The " Calm Address," so much regretted at the time, cleared the 
continent of un-American influences, and left in the hands of a 
ministry to the manner born, and in thorough sympathy with the 
social and political institutions of the country, the formation of 
its most successful ecclesiastical institution. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



The Question of the Ordinances — Destitution — Clamor of the People for the Sacra- 
ments — Deferred Settlement — Temporary Division — The Concession for Peace 
• — After Long Waiting — Prospect of Suj^ply. 

TN April, 1783, exactly eiglit years after the first blood was 



1 spilled at Lexington, peace was proclaimed to the American 
army by order of the commander-in-chief. The Conference 
which met the next month appointed two days for public thanks- 
giving for the peace established, and for "the revival of the work 
of God which had taken place among ns." This year eleven new 
circuits were added, one of which is Cumberland and Holstein; 
and two old stations restored to the list which had for some years 
been left off — New York and Norfolk. There were now thirty- 
nine circuits in all, and eighty-five preachers to travel them. 
Besides the nineteen preachers admitted on trial this year, an 
increase of one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five mem- 
bers was reported — making a total of thirteen thousand seven 
hundred and forty.'^' Other Christian denominations had de- 
creased, and some had been well-nigh extinguished during the 
war, but Methodism had increased fivefold. Eocked in the cra- 
dle of revolution, it was hardy. With the new republic, it was 
ready for setting out upon its unexampled career. 

The question of the ordinances cannot longer be postponed. 
We have seen how Strawbridge believed, and acted upon the be- 
lief, that under the circumstances his commission to preach, 
which he had received from the Lord Jesus, carried with it the 
authority to baptize also, and to give the Lord's Supper to those 
wdio had believed on Him, by his ministry. Though the first 
"rule" of the first Annual Conference seems absolute, as record- 
ed in their brief Minutes, yet we learn from Asbury's note that 
it was adopted with the understanding that "no preacher in our 
Connection shall be permitted to administer the ordinances at 
this time except Mr. Strawbridge, and he under the particular 
direction of the Assistant." 

There were now but one thousand six hundred and twenty-three Methodists 
north of Mason and Dixon's line, twelve thousand one hundred and seventeen 
south of it. (Stevens's History, Vol. II.) 
(314) 




Tlie Question of the 0)-dinances. 



315 



The people more and more clamored for the sacraments at the 
hands of their pastors. There were no Wesleys, Grimshaws, 
Piers, Perronets, Creightons, Fletchers, and other godly clergy, 
going in and out to supply this demand. Even the loose and 
immoral clergy of the Established Church were few and far be- 
tween; and at the sound of war, being mostly foreigners, they 
deserted the country. Unless the kingdom of heaven were a 
close corporation, with the Bishop of London, three thousand 
miles away, at its head, these American Methodists could not 
see why they should be deprived of a whole gospel. Tliey had 
a well-defined theological system, a pure discipline, a sound ex- 
perience, a holy ministry, a compact organism, and an edifying 
Christian fellowship — why must they wait on the pleasure of 
men who could not understand their distant situation, or sympa- 
thize with their wants, for the sacraments? Intelligent and seri- 
ous people, thus conditioned, would be likely to ap]3reciate the 
figment of apostolical succession, and the theory of ecclesiasti- 
cism that hangs on it, at its true worth. The trained conserva- 
tism of Wesleyan Methodists triumphed, though it bore hard 
upon them. They waited until all could be united in measures 
of relief, and until relief could come in regular order. 

The Minutes do not show it, but the journals of the old preach- 
ers do, that this matter came up at all of the Annual Conferences. 
It was pressed in the fifth session held at Deer Creek, in Har- 
ford county, Maryland, 1777. Says one chronicler: "The ques- 
tion, 'What shall be done with respect to the ordinances?' was 
asked. 'Let the preachers pursue the old plan as from the be- 
ginning,' was the answer. It was further asked, 'What altera- 
tion may we make in our original plan? ' And the answer was, 
' Our next Conference will, if God permit, show us more clearly.' " 
It was debated, but the decision was suspended till the next 
Conference, which was appointed to be held in the following May 
in Leesburg, Virginia. Thomas Pankin presided over this ses- 
sion. It was his last, and doubtless he bore to Wesley a faithful 
account of the pressure on this subject: that " the exigence of ne- 
cessity " was upon the American Methodists, which even in the es- 
timation of such a Churchman as the "Judicious Hooker " v/ould 
justly constrain them " to leave the usual ways which otherwise 
they would willingly keep." His words described and covered 
their case: "Howbeit, as the ordinary course is ordinarily in all 



316 



History of MefJiodism. 



things to be observed, so it may be in some cases not unneces- 
sary that we decline from the ordinary Avays." 

The sixth Annual Conference began at Leesburg, 1778. It was 
the first session held in that province, then comprising nearly two- 
thirds of the membership. Eankin had left; Asbnry was in se- 
clusion; and William Watters, the senior native itinerant, presid- 
ed, though only twenty-seven years old. He says of the session: 

Having no old preachers with us, we were as orphans bereft of our spiritual 
parents; but though young and inexperienced in business, the Lord looked gra- 
ciously upon us, and had the uppermost seat in all our hearts, and of course in our 
meeting. It was also submitted to the consideration of this Conference whether 
in our present situation, of having but few ministers left in many of our parishes 
to administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, we should not ad- 
minister them ourselves; for as yet we had not the ordinances among us, but were 
dependent on other denominations for them, some receiving them from the Pres- 
byterians, but the greater part from the Church of England. In fact, we consid- 
ered ourselves, at this time, as belonging to the Church of England. After much 
conversation on the subject, it was unanimously agreed to lay it over for the de- 
termination of the next Conference, to be held [in Fluvanna county] 19th of May. 

Asbury, aware of the unwelcome fact that the next Conference 
would be one of action on the vexed question, called — at Judge 
^Yhit8's in Delaware, where he enjoyed freedom from molestation 
— a quasi Conference of all the preachers north of the Potomac, in 
April, 1779; Watters, alone, from the southern side was with them. 
Anticipating the proceedings at Fluvanna, the question was asked, 
" Shall we guard against a separation from the Church direct or 
indirect?" and answered, "By all means." Asbury says: "As 
we had great reason to fear that our brethren to the southward 
were in danger of separating from us, we wrote them a soft, heal- 
ing epistle." This "preparatory Conference," as Lee calls it, ap- 
pointed its next session to be held at Baltimore. Watters bore 
the healing letter to the regular Conference in Fluvanna coun- 
ty, Tirginia, convened at Brokenback Church, in May. "When 
the postponed question, "Shall we administer the ordinances?" 
came up, it was decided in the affirmative. Philip Gatch pre- 
sided, and his journal gives the conclusions reached, embodied 
in a series of questions and answers : 

" AYhat are our reasons for taking up the administration of the 
ordinances? Answer: Because the Episcopal Establishment is 
now dissolved, and, therefore, in almost all our circuits the mem- 
bers are without the ordinances." 



Division Threatened, hut Averted. 



317 



Philip Gatcli, Eeuben Ellis, and James Foster were appointed 
a presbytery: "First, to administer the ordinances themselves; 
second, to authorize any other preacher or preachers, approved 
of by them, by the form of laying on of hands." After going 
through the usual schedule of business, the Conference adjourned 
to meet next year in Manakintown, Powhattan county, Yirginia. 

The new plan was put in operation at once. The committee 
ordained each other, and set apart other preachers, "that they 
might administer the holy ordinances of the Church of Christ." 
Their labors were greatly blessed, many souls were gathered 
into the Church, "and Christians were very lively in religion." 
Jesse Lee says: " The preachers thus ordained went forth preach- 
ing the gospel in their circuits as formerly, and administered the 
sacraments wherever they went, provided the people were willing 
to partake with them. Most of our preachers in the South fell 
in with this new plan; and as the leaders of the party were very 
zealous, and the greater part of them very pious men, the private 
members were influenced by them and pretty generally fell in 
with their measures; however, some of the old Methodists would 
not commune with them, but steadily adhered to their old cus- 
toms. The preachers north of Yirginia were opposed to this 
step, so hastily taken by their brethren in the South, and made 
a stand against it, believing that unless a stop could be put to 
this new mode of proceeding a separation would take place 
among the preachers and the people. There was great cause to 
fear a division, and both parties trembled for the ark of God, 
and shuddered at the thought of dividing the Church of Christ." 
A few preachers, who dissented from the action of the Confer- 
ence, took their stations north of the Potomac, among those that 
agreed with them on this question. 

Asbury left his retreat in Delaware, and met some of the preach- 
ers at Baltimore, on the 24th of April, and thus anticipated the 
Yirginia session by two weeks. Freeborn Garrettson says: " The 
next Conference was appointed to be held at Manakintown, Yir- 
ginia, May, 1780. Prior to this Conference we Northern preach- 
ers thought it expedient, for our own convenience, to hold one in 
Baltimore, at which Messrs. Asbury, Watters, and Garrettson 
were appointed as delegates to the Yirginia Conference, to bring 
them back if possible to our original usages. The proposition 
that we made to them was that they should suspend the admin- 



318 



History of Methodism. 



istratioii of the ordinances for one year; in the meanwhile we 
wonlcl consult Mr. Wesley, and in the following May we wonld 
have a union Conference in Baltimore, and abide by his judg- 
ment. To this proposal they unanimously agreed; and a letter, 
containing a circumstantial account of the case, written by John 
Dickins, was signed and sent to Mr. AVesley." Garrettson, one of 
the committee, tells in few words the result of a long and anx- 
ious negotiation. The ground w^as not yielded without a strag- 
gle — not of arguments, for the brethren administering the ordi- 
nances were satisfied with their position — but it was a struggle 
of entreaties and tears, of love and pleas for continued union. 
The opening breach was, at last, closed by the moderation of 
the sacramental party, who compromised on a reference of the 
whole subject, backed by such official statements of the case as 
had never before been made. Asbury spent the next year pretty 
much in North Carolina and Virginia with marked effect at con- 
ciliation and unity. He also wrote urgently to England. 
A few years before, Jarratt had written to Wesley: 

Virginia (the land of mv nativitv) has long groaned through a want of faithful 
ministers of the gospel. Many souls are })erishing for lack of knowledge, many 
crying for the bread of life, and no man is found to break it to them. "We have 
ninety-five parishes in the Colony, and all — except one — I believe, are supplied with 
clergymen. But alas! you well understand the rest. I know of but one clergy- 
man of the Church of England [McEoberts] who appears to have the power and 
spirit of vital religion; for all seek their own, and not the things that are Christ's. 
Is not our situation, then, truly deplorable? And does it not call loudly upon the 
friends of Zion on your side the Atlantic to assist us? Many people here heartily 
join with me in returning our most grateful acknowledgments for the concern you 
have shown for us in sending so many preachers to the American Colonies. Can- 
not you do something more for us? Cannot you send us a minister of the Church 
of England, to be stationed in that one vacant parish I have mentioned? In all 
probability he would be of great service. 

There is doubtless a connection between these foregoing things 
and the following passage of history: ^- " Some friends had written 
to Mr. Wesley, desiring him to select a young man of piety, wis- 
dom, and understanding, and send him out to America, ordained 
by one of the English bishops. Having a personal knowledge 
of Dr. Lowth, Bishop of London, Mr. Wesley asked this favor of 
him, and was refused. Thereupon, on August 10th, 1780, he wrote 
a long letter to the bishop, pointing out to him the great evil he 
had done to spiritual religion in America by that refusal. Be- 



* Memorials of the Wesley Family, by Stevenson. 



Collapse of the Established Church. 



319 



fore finishing his letter, Mr. Wesley thus plainly writes his mind: 
' Your lordship did not see good to ordain the pious young man 
I recommended, but your lordship did see good to ordain and 
send into America other persons who knew something of Greek 
and Latin, but who knew no more of saving souls than of catch- 
ing whales. In this respect I mourn for poor America.' " Wes- 
ley was trying to avoid innovation, and not to " leave the usual 
Avays," but fortunately he was defeated in his half -measures. 

The case of the Established Charch, where Methodism most 
prevailed, was one of collapse, as repeatedly stated by its own his- 
torian : " AYhen the Colonists first resorted to arms, Virginia, in her 
sixty-one counties, contained ninety-five parishes and ninety-one 
clergymen. *~ When the contest was over, she came out of the war 
with twenty-three of her ninety-five parishes extinct or forsaken ; 
and of the remaining seventy-two, thirty-four were destitute of 
ministerial services; while of her ninety-one clergymen, twenty- 
eight only remained who had lived through the storm. Of these 
twenty-eight, fifteen only had been enabled to continue in the 
churches which they supplied prior to the commencement of hos- 
tilities." And it was a serious question, far from being solved, 
whether the fragments of that Church could be gathered up and 
organized, and perpetuated on its own principles. There was 
not a bishop of its faith and order in America, and never had 
been. In May, 1785, a convention w^as held of what subsequently 
became the Protestant Episcopal Church, in Virginia, which said, 
"Since the year 1776 she hath been even without regular govern- 
ment; " and, "We have as yet no resources within ourselves for a 
succession of the ministry." 

The attention of the convention was called to the fiict that soon after the re- 
cognition of Independence ''application was made by some young American gen- 
tleman to the Bishop of London for orders. Difficulties arose from the operation 
of certain English statutes requiring of those ordained such engagements as Amer- 
icans could not take consistently with the allegiance which they owed to their 
own country." Mr. Adams, then American minister at the Court of St. James, 
mentioned their case to the Danish minister; it was laid before the theological 
faculty of Denmark, and relief was offered from that quarter. But the historian 
informs us that the favor was not accepted at the time on account of the "feeling 
which was general amongst the Episcopalians throughout this country, that the 
consecration of American bishops and obtaining of holy orders were not to be 
sought out of England, until all prospect of obtaining them there should seem 
hopeless." Adams, a Congregationalist, doubtless had a vein of humor. 



320 



History of Metliodism. 



A general convention met in Pliiladelpliia, in the fall of 1785, 
in wliicli a tentative effort was made to form a liturgy and con- 
stitution and articles of faith; "it was also recommended by the 
convention to the several State conventions to elect suitable 
persons to be recommended to the prelates of England for con- 
secration to the episcopate; and a committee was appointed to 
address the archbishops and bishops of England, requesting 
them to confer the ex3iscopal character on such persons as might 
be elected.""^ The spiritual lords of England took their time, 
and next year a reply was returned granting the request upon cer- 
tain conditions, among which were: The Americans must insert 
the Nicene Creed in their liturgy — they had thrown it out, but 
they put it in again; and also restore the clause, "he descended 
into hell," in the Apostles' Creed. 

New York and Pennsylvania, accordingly, got supplied with the 
" succession," in the persons of Drs. White and Provost. Dr. Mad- 
ison went to England, and was consecrated in 1790. How pros- 
perously things went on may be inferred from the fact that when 
his successor was elected, in 1814, it was done by a mere handful 
— hardly a quorum. " Seven clergymen were all that could be con- 
vened to transact the most important measure which our conven- 
tions are ever called on to perform ; and this in a territory where 
once more than ten times seven regularly served at the altar. We 
look back farther still, and find the Church, after the lapse of two 
hundred years, numbering about as many ministers as she pos- 
sessed at the close of the first eight years of her existence." f 

It was not to be thought of that vigorous, growing, and evan- 
gelical Methodism should be tied onto this moribund body, which 
at the close of the war, and years afterward, was without organiza- 
tion and without a creed, and did not know how, when, or where 
it was to obtain a perpetuation of its feeble ministry. 

The relations in which the Methodists stood to other Churches, 
existing before and through the war for independence, and not 
disrupted by its results, were equally unfavorable for the solu- 
tion of the sacramental question. Presbyterians and Congrega- 
tionalists would not baptize their children unless at least one of 
the parents professed faith in their doctrines, nor admit them to 
the communion-table unless they became members of their 

^Hawks's Narrative of Events connected with the Rise and Progress of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, flbid, page 246. 



The PrincijAe of Church Order. 



321 



Church. Baptists were more rigid still, as they could f ello¥/ship 
none unless they had been baptized by immersion. To neither 
of these conditions could Methodists submit. Besides, by these 
denominations, they were regarded as shocking heretics, on ac- 
count of their opposition to the Calvinistic doctrine of decrees 
and the final perseverance of the saints. 

What shall the Methodists of America now do ? We have seen 
their condition at the proclamation of peace. One more Con- 
ference-session brings them down to May, 1784; and adding the 
results of the year, they have about fifteen thousand members, 
and forty-six circuits served by eighty-four itinerant preachers. 
Prepared as they are for great achievements, it is clear they 
cannot go much farther without completing their ecclesiastical 
organization. God has bestowed on them all the gifts and graces 
necessary for the work of salvation; man would withhold from 
them the authority of its formal signs and seals. They have re- 
frained from exercising that right which " the exigence of neces- 
sity,"as interpreted by stringent exponents of ecclesiastical polity, 
would allow; all in deference to regular order and to the preserva- 
tion of unity — waiting, as they were encouraged to do, for some 
provision to be made that would compass both. Political events, 
which none could foresee, have now been determined; the crisis is 
upon them ; they cannot wait longer. They have been standing 
on a question of expediency, not of right; of regularity, not of 
validity. The most able and venerable of their itinerants may 
not, on account of a restraint they hold themselves under, bap- 
tize a child or any one of the hundreds of their converts; may 
not give the simple emblems of the atonement to the thousands 
of souls they daily feed with the bread of life. The pure word 
of God is preached, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; 
but no sacraments are administered, because the Bishop of Lon- 
don refuses to lay his hands on somebody's head! Must these 
fourscore pastors and fifteen thousand Christians wait indef- 
initely? Or must they disband? Surely Christian fetichism 
could not ask so much. 

"Dispassionately looked at," says Isaac Taylor, "Wesleyan 
Methodism did not so much violate as it rendered an homage 
to the principle of Church order; for if it broke in upon things 
constituted with a violence that threatened to overthrow what- 
ever might obstruct its course, it presently emerged from its own 
21 



322 



History of Methodism. 



confusion, and stood forth as a finished pattern of organization, 
and an eminent example of the prevalence and supremacy of 
rules. The enlightened adherents of ecclesiastical institutions 
might well persuade themselves to see in Methodism not, as they 
are vv'ont, a horrible Vandalism, but the most emphatic recogni- 
tion that has ever been made of the very core of Church princi- 
ples, namely, that Christianity cannot subsist, does not develop 
its genuine powers (longer than for a moment), apart from an 
ecclesiastical organization." 

This " homage to the principle of Church order," having been 
rendered, is destined soon to be repaid. What has been waited 
for and prepared for will, in a regular, primitive, and scriptural 
way, be obtained without any breach of unity, real or appar- 
ent; without any possible concession to a hierarchical heresy 
which had all along been disavowed; and at the same time show- 
ing that due respect to the principle of the ministerial trans- 
mission of Christian ordinances which was to guard Method- 
ism in the future against the evils of radicalism and confusion. 
Wesley, long since satisfied of his right and power, as a Pres- 
byter, to ordain preachers for the American Methodists, had 
hesitated to exercise that authority on the ground of expedien- 
cy. Now he can say: "By a very uncommon train of provi- 
dences, many of the provinces of North America are totally dis- 
joined from the British Empire, and erected into indei^endent 
States. The English Government has no authority over them, 
either civil or ecclesiastical." " No one either exercises or claims 
any ecclesiastical authority at all." And reciting the neces- 
sities of the situation, he concludes: "Here, therefore, my 
scruples are at an end; and I conceive myself at full liberty, 
as I violate no order and invade no man's right, by appointing 
and sending laborers into the harvest." 

Let us return to the Old World, and bring up a chapter of 
history from that side. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Primitive Church Government — Philanthropy — The Sum of all Villainies — Book 
Eeviews on Horseback — West India Missions Planted — Christian Perfection — 
A Scheme of Absorption — The Calvinistic Controversy — Fletcher's Checks — 
Deed of Declaration — John Fletcher — Thomas Coke — Ordinations for America. 



OHN WESLEY did much of his reading on horseback, when 



young, and in his carriage when old. Thus reading, he crit- 
icised and digested more books, in history, philosophy, and po- 
etry, than most men get through with in the quiet of a library. 
Traveling five thousand miles a year, he could not afford to lose 
the time on the road. Leaving London for Bristol early in 1746, 
he read a book that had an effect upon his opinions and his life. 
Lord King was the nephew of the celebrated Locke, who left him 
a portion of his library. At the age of twenty-two (1691), he 
published "An Inquiry into the Constitution, Discipline, Unity, 
and Worship of the Primitive Church, that flourished three hun- 
dred years after Christ; faithfully collected out of the extant 
writings of those ages." He rose to be Lord High Chancellor of 
England, and died in 1734, in reputation for learning, virtue, 
and humanity. This book was Wesley's companion on his way 
to Bristol, and after reading it he wrote: "In spite of the vehe- 
ment prejudice of my education, I was ready to believe that this 
was a fair and impartial draught; but if so, it would follow that 
bishops and presbyters are essentially of one order, and that 
originally every Christian congregation was a Church independ- 
ent of all others." 

Stillingfleet's " Irenicum," King's " Primitive Church," and en- 
largement by observation and reflection — as he associated contin- 
ually with men who by every token had been "moved of the 
Holy Ghost to preach," and therefore were in the highest sense 
God's ministers and embassadors — caused Wesley's opinions to 
undergo a change. The Conference of 1747 reveals this: The 
conversation one day proceeded to show, from the term "cJmrch'' 
in the New Testament, that a national Church is " a merely po- 
litical institution;" that the three orders of bishops, priests, and 
deacons generally obtained in the early ages of the Church; but 




(323) 



324 



HistoFfj of Metliodism. 



that "uniformity of Cliurcli goyeriiment is not taught in Holy 
Scripture, and was never attempted till the time of Constantine. 
One question, with its answer, expresses AYesley's opinion, and 
that of his coadjutors, on a subject that was coming forward: 

" Question: In what age was the divine right of episcopacy first 
asserted in England? Answer: About the middle of Queen Eliz- 
abeth's reign. Till then all bishops and clergy in England con- 
tinually allowed, and joined in, the ministrations of those who 
were not episcopally ordained." 

In July, 1756, Wesley wrote: " I still believe the episcopal form 
of Church government to be scriptural and apostolical. I mean, 
well agreeing with the practice and writings of the apostles. 
But that it is prescribed in Scripture, I do not believe. This 
opinion, which I once zealously espoused, I havo been heartily 
ashamed of, ever since I read Bishop Stillingfleet's 'Irenicon.' 
I think he has unanswerably proved that neither Christ nor his 
apostles prescribe any particular form of Church government, and 
that the plea of divine right for diocesan episcopacy was never 
heard of in the primitive Church." He preferred the Church of 
England, not because he thought it tho only Church, btit because, 
upon the whole, he thought it the best. The charm of apostolic 
succession is dispelled, so soon as he gets that venerable Rom- 
ish fetich in jDosition to be looked at through a dry light, and 
to be investigated as other subjects are investigated. Indeed, in 
reference to this, Wesley wrote (in 1761): "I never could see it 
proved; and I am persuaded I never shall." And later still was 
his well-known and oft-quoted utterance : " I firmly believe I am 
a scriptural episcopos, as much as any man in England, or in Eu- 
rope. For the uninterrupted succession I know to be a fable, 
which no man ever did or can prove." 

As a presbyter in authority, or a providential bishop, he em- 
ployed preachers, and set them apart to the sacred office. It is 
true that it was several years before he began to use the imposi- 
tion of hands; but that was a mere circumstance, not the essence 
of ministerial ordination. Eichard Watson observes: 

It has been generally supposed that Mr. Wesley did not consider his appoint- 
ment of preachers without imposition of hands as an ordination to the ministry, but 
only as an irregular employment of laymen in the spiritual office of merely ex- 
pounding the Scriptures in a case of moral necessity. This is not correct. They 
were not appointed to expound or preach merely, but were solemnly set apart to 
the pastoral office, as the Minutes of the Conferences show; nor were they regarded 



Book Reviews on Horseback. 



325 



by him as laymen, except when in common parlance they were distinguislied from 
the clergy of the Church ; in which case lie would have called any Dissenting min- 
ister a layman. The Minutes sufficiently show that as to the Church of Christ at 
large, and as to liis own Societies, he regarded the preachers, when fully devoted 
to the work, not as laymen, but as spiritual men, and ministers; men, as he says, 
"moved by the Holy Ghost" to preach the gospel, and who after trial were or- 
dained to that and other branches of the pastoral office. 

Wesley was a philanthropist. Whatever concerned humanity's 
welfare, body or soul, concerned him; and his strongest language 
is called forth by cruelty and oppression. Here is another of his 
book reviews along the road: "I read a very different book, pub- 
lished by an honest Quaker, on that execrable sum of all villain- 
ies, commonly called the Slave Trade. I read of nothing like 
it in the heathen world, whether ancient or modern; and it infin- 
itely exceeds, in every instance of barbarity, whatever Christian 
slaves suffer in Mohammedan countries." Here are sentiments 
in advance of his time; for it was not until fifteen years after 
this that the "Society for the Suppression of the Slave Trade" 
was founded. One of the counts in the original indictment 
drawn by the Colonies, prefacing their Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, was that the English Government, headed by the king, 
persisted in this trade with all its iniquities, to the disgust and 
detriment of the American people; and the new Kepublic pro- 
hibited it, under the severest penalties. Wilberforce was com- 
ing forward into public life, and, pursuing the line of Wesley's 
protest, was to earn a place in Westminister Abbey. The vis- 
itor of to-day, walking through the aisles of that mausoleum of 
kings and statesmen and other great ones, may read an inscrip- 
tion on his tombstone ascribing to him the honor of saving his 
country from "the guilt and shame of the African slave trade." 

Another book review on horseback shows that Wesley's sympa- 
thies were not confined to any race or color: " I read Mr. Bolt's ac- 
count of the affairs in the East Indies — I suppose much the best 
that is extant. But what a scene is here opened! What con- 
summate villains, what devils incarnate, were the managers there ! 
What utter strangers to justice, mercy, and truth — to every senti- 
ment of humanity ! I believe no heathen history contains a parallel, 

*The book which Wesley read is supposed to have been one written by Anthony 
Benezet (1762), a French Protestant, who, after being educated in England, be- 
came a Quaker in Philadelpliia, and was Whitefield's host when there. 



326 



History of Methodism. 



I remember none in all the annals of antiquity; not even the di- 
vine Cato or the virtuous Brutus plundered the provinces com- 
mitted to their charge with such merciless cruelty as the English 
have plundered the desolated provinces of Indostan." 

An interesting event, about 1760, is connected with negro mis- 
sions. Nathaniel Gilbert, a wealthy planter of the West Indies, 
visited England; he had heard of Wesley, had read some of his 
publications,, and his visit was in no small degree induced by a 
desire to make his personal acquaintance. This wish was real- 
ized, and he became a Methodist local preacher. An entry in 
Wesley's journal contains the germ of events: "In the morning, I 
preached in Mr. Gilbert's house. Two negro servants of his and 
a mulatto appear to be much awakened. Shall not His saving 
health be made known to all nations ? " Subsequently, he writes : 
"I rode to Wandsworth, and baptized two negroes belonging to 
Mr. Gilbert, a gentleman lately come from Antigua. One of these 
is deeply convinced of sin; the other rejoices in God her Saviour, 
and is the first African Christian I have known. But shall not 
our Lord, in due time, have these heathens also ' for his inherit- 
ance? ' " These were the first of a great multitude. 

Nathaniel Gilbert, after spending two years in England, re- 
turned to his estate in Antigua. He was an educated and an 
able man, and for some years had been the speaker of the House 
of Assembly in Antigua. He fitted up a room, placed a pulpit 
in it, and was soon branded as a madman for preaching to his 
slaves. A Society was formed at St. John's, and Methodism 
was fairly started in the West Indian islands. Nathaniel Gilbert 
died in 1774, eleven years before the appointment of the first 
Methodist missionaries to Antigaa, leaving behind him a Meth- 
odist Society of about two hundred members. " On what do you 
trust?" asked a friend. "On Christ crucified," was the quick 
response. "Have you peace with God?" He answered, "Un- 
speakable." "Have you no fear, no doubt?" "None," replied 
the dying man. Thus died the first West Indian Methodist. 
The. Society was left in a forlorn condition. For several years 
they were without a minister, but were kept together by two ne- 
gro women, who met them regularly, and prayed with them. 

The Government wishing a ship-carpenter's service at St. 
John's dock-yard, sent out John Baxter in 1778. A class-leader 
and local preacher, Baxter soon found the little flock and began 



^^Tlie Perfecting of the Saints' 



327 



to preacli, and had the pleasure of addressing multitudes, and the 
still greater pleasure of seeing the work of God prosper in his 
hands. He persevered until the year 1783, when a Methodist 
chapel was erected — the first ever built in the torrid zone. Al- 
though Baxter had devoted only a portion of his time to the 
work, following his trade while preaching, yet in seven years 
after his arrival nearly two thousand persons had joined his 
Society. Such was the state of things when the first "Wesley- 
an missionary arrived. On walking up the town of St. John's, 
he met Baxter in the street, on his way to the chapel to perform 
divine service, it being Christmas-day. Although personally 
strangers, their mutual joy on this unexpected meeting can be 
better conceived than described. 

About 1763 a deep wave of revival passed over the Societies. 
The peculiar work of the Spirit seemed to be what St. Paul calls 
"the perfecting of the saints." Many were awakened and con- 
verted, but the work of sanctification engaged preachers and peo- 
ple in a special manner. Visiting Ireland in July, Wesley re- 
cords: "I found three or four and forty in Dublin who seemed 
to enjoy the pure love of God. At least forty of these had been 
set at liberty within four months. Some others who had received 
the same blessing had removed to other parts. A larger number 
had found remission of sins." In September he was in the west 
of England, where he writes: "The more I converse with the 
believers in Cornwall, the more I am convinced that they have 
sustained great loss for want of hearing the doctrine of Chris- 
tian perfection clearly and strongly enforced." The bare word, 
^perfection, provoked criticism and jests on the part of some who 
should have known its Bible origin. To a doubting if not a back- 
slidden preacher Wesley wrote at a later day : 

Many think they are justified, and are not; but we cannot infer that none are 
justified. " So neither, if many think they are "perfected in love," and are not, 
will it follow that none are so. Blessed he God, though we set a hundred enthu- 
siasts aside, we are still "encompassed with a cloud of witnesses," who have testi- 
fied, and do testify, in life and in death, that perfection which I have taught these 
forty years ! This perfection cannot be a delusion, unless the Bible be a delusion 
too ; I mean, loving God with all our hearts, and our neighbor as ourselves. I pin 
down all its opposers to this definition of it. jSTo evasion ! No shifting the ques- 
tion ! Where is the delusion of this? Either you receive this love, or you do not. 
If you did, dare you call it a delusion? If you received any thing else, it does 
not at all afiect the question. 



328 



Histonj of Methodism. 



In 1759 Wesley published "Thoughts on Christian Perfec- 
tion." His sermon eighteen years before, on the same subject, 
thus opens: " There is scarce any expression in Holy Writ which 
has given more offense than this. The word perfect is what 
many cannot bear. The very sound of it is an abomination to 
them; and whosoever lyreaches perfection (as the phrase is), that 
it is attainable in this life, runs great hazard of being accounted 
by them worse than a heathen and a publican."* 

Proceeding to show in what sense Christians are perfect, and 
in wdiat sense they are not perfect, he guards against the error of 
putting Christian perfection so high as to be unattainable, or so 
low as to allow of "infirmities," so called, which are really sins: 

Christian perfection, therefore, does not imply (as some men seem to have im- 
agined) an exemption either from ignorance, or mistake, or infirmities, or temp- 
tations. Indeed, it is only another term for holiness. They are two names for 
the same thing. Thus, every one that is holy is, in the Scripture sense, perfect.. 
Yet we may observe, lastly, that neither in this respect is there any absolute per- 
fection on earth. There is no 'perfection of degrees, as it is termed; none which does 
not admit of a continual increase. So that how much soever any man has attained, 
or in how high a degree soever he is perfect, he hath still need to "grow in grace," 
and daily to advance in the knowledge and love of God his Saviour. 

This perfection is not like that of a tree which flourishes by 
the sap drawn from its own roots; it is rather like that of a 
branch, living and bearing fruit while united to the vine, but 
severed from it, is dried up and withered. The necessity of a 
Mediator is not excluded, as objectors allege, in their case who 
are perfected in love; for none feel their dependence on him, 
in his priestly office, as they do. Christ does not give this sal- 
vation separate from, but in and with, himself. Its essence is 
constant union of the soul with the Saviour. All deviations from 
the perfect law, whether caused by ignorance, inadvertence, or 
mistakes of judgment, need atonement. In a letter to a friend 
(1763), Wesley declares that he can say nothing on the subject 
of Christian perfection but what he has said already. Neverthe- 
less, at her request, he is willing to add a few words more: 

As to the word 'perfection, it is scriptural. Therefore, neither you nor I can in 
conscience object to it, unless we would send the Holy Ghost to school, and teach 
him to speak who made the tongue. 

By Christian perfection I mean (as I have said again and again) the sb loving 
God and our neighbor as to "rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in every 

••>Ko. XL, in the Standnni Series: Text, Phil, iii 12 



The Wesleyan Doctrine of Perfection. 



329 



thing give thanks." He that experiences this is scripturally perfect. And if you 
do not, yet you may experience it; you surely will, if you follow hard after it, for 
the Scripture cannot be broken. 

What, then, does their arguing prove who object against Christian perfection? 
Absolute or infallible perfection I never contended for; sinless perfection I do not 
contend for, seeing it is not scriptural. A perfection such as enables a person to 
fulfill the whole law, and so need not the merits of Christ, I do not acknowledge. 
I do now and always did protest against it. 

But is there no sin in those who are perfect in love? I believe not; but, be 
that as it may, they feel none — no temper contrary to pure love, while they rejoice, 
pray, and give thanks continually. Whether sin is suspended or extinguished I 
will not dispute. It is enough that they feel nothing but love. This you allow 
we should daily press after; and this is all I contend for. 

So important a doctrine came up in the earlier conversations 
of the Conference. An epitome of it, as held and taught by 
Wesleyans, may be found in their Minutes. It shows a disposi- 
tion to approach all who advocate holiness as nearly as possible : 

"Question: What is it to be sanctified? Answer: To be re- 
newed in the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness. 

" Question : Is faith the condition, or the instrument, of sanc- 
tification ? Answer : It is both the condition and the instrument of 
it. When we begin to believe, then sanctification begins. And 
as faith increases, holiness increases, till we are created anew. 

" Question : What is implied in being a perfect Christian? An- 
swer: The loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and with 
all our mind and soul and strength." 

"Question: How much is allowed by our brethren who differ 
from us with regard to entire sanctification? Answer: They 
grant, (1) That every one must be entirely sanctified in the arti- 
cle of death. (2) That, till then, a believer daily groAvs in grace, 
comes nearer and nearer to perfection. (3) That we ought to be 
continually pressing after this, and to exhort all others so to do. 

"Question: What do we allow to them? Answer: We grant, 
(1) That many of those who have died in the faith — yea, the 
greater part of those we have known — were not sanctified through- 
out, not made perfect in love, till a little before death. (2) That 
the term ' sanctified ' is continually applied by St. Paul to all that 
were justified, w^ere true believers. (3) That by this term alone 
he rarely (if ever) means saved from all sin. (4) That, conse- 
quently, it is not proper to use it in this sense, without adding 
the word 'wholly,' 'entirely,' or the like. (5) That the inspired 
writers almost continually speak of or to those who were justi- 



330 



History of Metliodism. 



fied, but very rarely either of or to those who were wholly sanc- 
tified. (6) . That, consequently, it behooves us to speak in public 
almost continually of the state of justification; but more rarely, 
at least in full and explicit terms, concerning entire sanctifica- 
tion. 

"Question: What, then, is the point wdierein we divide? An- 
swer: It is this — whether w^e should expect to be saved from all 
sin before the article of death. 

"Question: Is there any clear Scripture promise that God will 
save us from all sin? Answ^er : There is, ' He shall redeem Israel 
from all his sins.' And to this the ap^ostle plainly refers in that 
exhortation, 'Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves 
from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the 
fear of God.' Equally clear and express is that ancient promise, 
* The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of 
thy seed, to love the Lord thy God wath all thy heart, and wdtli 
all thy soul.' 

" Question: Does the New Testament afford any further ground 
for expecting to be saved from all sin? Answer: Undoubtedly 
it does, both in those prayers and commands wdiich are equiva- 
lent to the strongest assertions. 

"Question: What prayers do you mean? Answer: Prayers 
Eor entire sanctification, which, were there no such thing, w^ould 
be mere mockery of God. 

"Question: What command is there to the same effect? An- 
sw^er: (1) 'Be jq perfect, as your Father w^hich is in heaven is 
perfect.' (2) 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and wdth all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' But if the 
love of God fill all the heart, there can be no sin there. 

" Question : But how^ does it appear that this is to be done be- 
fore the article of death? Answer: From the very nature of a 
command, which is not given to the dead, but to the living. 
Therefore, ' Thou shalt love God wdth all thy heart ' cannot mean 
thou shalt do this when thou diest, but w^hile thou livest. 

" Question : Does not the harshly preaching perfection tend to 
bring believers into a kind of bondage or slavish fear? Answer: 
It does. Therefore, we should always place it in the most amia- 
able light, so that it may excite only hope, joy, and desire." 

A perilous crisis was encountered, but safely passed, wdien 
the absorption of Methodism w^as proposed. The proposition 



Schemes of Ahsor]^tion. 



331 



came from friends, and it had this advantage— it seemed to take 
ground on which "Wesley stood at an earlier stage of the religious 
movement. Walker of Truro, an evangelical and friendly cler- 
gyman, pushed this scheme. In a long letter, he details it: 

After all these considerations, might not an expedient be found out whii^b might 
correspond with the word of God and the Church of England, and, at the same 
time, both remove all objections and render the body of Methodists more useful? 
I have long and often thought of such a thing. My scheme is this: 1. That as 
many of the lay preacliers as are fit for, and can be procured, ordination, be or- 
dained. 2. Tliat those who remain be not allowed to preach, bat be set as inspec- 
tors over the Societies, and assistants to them. 3. That they be not moved from 
place to place, to the end they may be personally acquainted with all the members 
of such Societies. 4. That their business may be to purge and edify the Societies 
under their care, to the end that no person be continued a member whose conver- 
sation is not orderly and of good report. 

If this should be made an objection, that hereby lay preachers would be pre- 
vented from preaching abroad, and so much good be put a stop to, I would suggest 
it to be inquired into, whether this lay preaching hath been so much to the honor 
or interest of religion or Methodism as may be supposed? I remember, when it 
first began, I said and thought lay preaching vrould be the ruin of Methodism. 

Wesley replied at large, showing that the scheme wonld not 
work at all. Alluding to the arguments of Methodists who ad- 
vocated bolder measures and open dissent, he says: "I will freely 
acknowledge that I cannot answer these arguments to my own sat- 
isfaction. As yet we have not taken one step farther than we 
were convinced was our bounden duty. It is from a full convic- 
tion of this that we have preached abroad, prayed extempore, 
formed Societies, and permitted preachers who were not episco- 
pally ordained. And were we pressed on this side, were there 
no alternative allowed, we should judge it our bounden duty 
rather wholly to separate from the Church than to give np any 
one of these points; therefore, if we cannot stop a separation 
without stopping lay preachers, the case is clear, we cannot stop 
it at all." 

"Lay preachers" had given every token of being "moved by 
the Holy Ghost." Must he stop them, because not episcopaUy 
ordained? He states the case to the rector of Truro: "What 
authority have I to forbid their doing what I believe God has 
called them to do? I apprehend, indeed, that there ought, if 
possible, to be both an outward and inward call to this work ; yet, 
if one of the two be supposed wanting, I had rather want the 
outward than the inward call. I rejoice that I am called to 



332 



History of Methodism. 



l^reacli the gospel both by God and man. Yet, I acknowledge, 
I had rather have the Divine without the human than the hu- 
man without the Divine call." 

The next scheme was not so sweeping, but the more danger- 
ous from its moderation. Wesley had addressed a circular to 
fifty clergymen, desiring their counsel and cooperation in carry- 
ing on the revival. "The great point," he says, "I now labored 
for was a good understanding with all our brethren of the clergy, 
who are heartily engaged in propagating vital religion." A doz- 
en of the clergymen, to whom the circular had been sent, attended 
the Conference. John Pawson tells for what purpose. The 
reader must not be startled at the term awakened minister: 

In the year 1764 twelve of those gentlemen attended our Conference in Bristol, 
in order to prevail with Mr, Wesley to withdraw the preachers from every parish 
where there was an awakened minister; and Mr. Charles Wesley honestly told us 
that if he was a settled minister in any particular place, we should not preach 
there. To whom Mr. Hampson replied, "I would preach there, and never ask 
your leave, and should have as good a right to do so as you would have." Mr. 
Charles Wesley's answer was in a strain of High-church eloc|uence indeed ! but I 
leave it. His prediction was never accomplished, nor ever can be. However, 
these gentlemen failed in their attempt that time; Mr. Wesley would not give up 
his Societies to them." 

The difference between the tw^o Wesley s on this subject ap- 
pears to have been this: With Charles, adherence to the Church 
was paramount; every thing else was of secondary importance. 
With John, the grand ruling idea was the salvation of sinners; 
and although anxious to remain in union with the Church, and 
to keep his Societies from separating from it, he subjected every 
thing to the proclamation of the gospel and the salvation of men. 
" Church or no Church," he observes in one of his letters to 
Charles, " we must attend to the work of saving souls." Besides 
other unanswerable objections to the withdrawing plan w^as this: 
There might, at one time, be a godly incumbent of a parish; but 
who could tell the character of his successor? Instead of tak- 
ing care of the abandoned Societies, he might mock and destroy 
them. The successor of Grimshaw would not allow Wesley to 
occupy his pulpit. Such changes for the w^orse were common in 
a State Church, where the right of presentation to the vacant 
parish was a property often held by godless men. 

Methodism, step by step, ivas forced into its true position. It 
mast not be stopped; it could not be absorbed into the Establish- 



Khigsicood — Antlnomkinism. 



S33 



ment at this stage; and the experience of Lady Huntingdon had 
shown that it would not be allowed, as a self-governed revival 
organization, to exist inside the Establishment. Already Wes- 
leyan chapels and preachers were under necessity of getting 
licensed according to the Act of Toleration. Nothing w^as left, 
if Methodism be true to God and its mission, but to organize 
outside of the Establishment. If it cannot act as a leaven wdthin 
that body, it may be an uplifting lever outside of it. In the 
course of time the hierarchy saw the blunder they had commit- 
ted, but they saw it too late. 

Kingswood School still gave trouble. In March, 1766, on his 
long journey to the north, coming to Bristol, Wesley wrote: "I 
rode to Kingswood, and having told my whole mind to the mas- 
ters and servants, spoke to the children in a far stronger manner 
than ever I did before. I wdll kill or cure. I will have one or 
the other; a Christian school or none at all." At another time he 
resolved to "mend it or end it." His latter. years were cheered 
by success; on coming to this child of his love, he could say: ''I 
found the school in excellent order. It is now one of the pleas- 
antest spots in England. I found all things just according to my 
desire; the rules being w^ell observed, and the whole behavior of 
the children showing that they were now managed with the wis- 
dom that Cometh from above." At his last visit, he wrote : " I went 
over to Kingswood; sweet recess! where every thing is now just 
as I wish." 

There was a well-meant effort by Wesley to keep as near to 
Whitefield as possible, when a doctrinal divergence began to ap- 
pear between them. Antinomianism, both of mystic and Calvin- 
istic origin, gave him trouble; but his testimony against it w^as 
unsparing. The Minutes of 1770 contained, therefore, the fol- 
lowing passages: 

We said, in 1744, "We have leaned too much toward Calvinism." Wherein? 

With regard to man's faithfulness. Our Lord himself taught us to use the ex- 
pression. And we ought never to be ashamed of it. We ought steadily to assert, 
on his authority, that if a man is not "faithful in the unrighteous mammon," God 
will not give " him the true riches." 

We have received it as a maxim that "a man is to do nothing in order to jus- 
tification." Nothing can be more false. Whoever desires to find favor with God 
should "cease from evil, and learn to do well." Whoever repents should do 
" works meet for repentance." And if this is not in order to find favor, what does 
he do them for? 



334 



Hisforj/ of Meihodism. 



Does not talking of a justified or a sanctified state tend to mislead men? almost 
naturally leading tliem to trust in what Avas done in one moment? Whereas Ave are 
every hour and every moment pleasing or displeasing to God, "according to our 
■works;" according to the whole of our inward tenii^ers, and our outward behavior. 

These expressions, with others touching the acceptance of the 
heathen who "fear God and work righteousness,'' excited suspi- 
cion among some who held "the doctrines of grace." Tlie Cal- 
yinistic wing of Methodism took up the matter warmly. The 
outcry of heresy was raised, as though Wesley and his preachers 
had asserted that we are sayed by the merit of works and not en- 
tirely by that of Christ. The Countess of Huntingdon was 
alarmed; and the Rey. Walter Shirley, her kinsman and chaplain, 
wrote a " Circular Letter " to all the serious clergy, inyiting them 
to go in a body to the ensuing Conference, and "insist upon a 
formal recantation of the said Minutes, and in case of a refusal, 
to sign and publish their protest against them." He and a few 
others accordingly attended the Bristol Conference (1771), where, 
says Wesley, " we had more preachers than usual, in consequence 
of Mr. Shirley's 'Circular Letter.' At ten on Thursday morn- 
ing he came, with nine or ten of his friends. We conversed 
freely for about two hours; and I belieye they were satisfied that 
we were not such ' dreadful heretics ' as they imagined, but were 
tolerably sound in the faith." 

As eyangelical co-laborers, the Calyinistic Methodists were 
entitled to an explanation (not a "recantation"); but they did 
not get it until they approached the Conference respectfully. 
Shirley's " Circular Letter " was naturally resented by Wesley, 
as being published before any explanations respecting the Min- 
utes had been asked; and also from its assuming that he and the 
clergy who might obey his summons had the right to come into 
the Conference, and to demand a recantation. This led Lady 
Huntingdon and Mr. Shirley to address explanatory letters to 
Mr. Wesle3^ The eyening before the Conference met. Lady 
Huntingdon says: "As you and your friends, and many others, 
haye objected to the mode of the application to you in Confer- 
ence, as an arbitrary way of proceeding, we wish to retract what 
a more deliberate consideration might haye prevented," etc. Mr. 
Shirley's letter acknowledges "that the 'Circular' was too hasti- 
ly drawn up, and improperly expressed; and, therefore, for the 
offensive expressions in it we desire we may be hereby under- 



The Calvinistic Co}itrorers)j. 



335 



stood to make a very suitable submission to you." On this 
explanation, Mr. Shirley and his friends were invited by Wes- 
ley to come to the Conference on the third day of its sitting. 
The substance of the explanation was: "Whereas the doctrinal 
l^oints in the Minutes of a Conference, held in London, x^ugust 
7, 1770, have been understood to favor 'justification by works,' 
now the Rev. John Wesley and others, assembled in Conference, 
do declare that we had no such meaning, and that we abhor tlip 
doctrine of 'justification by works ' as a most perilous and abom- 
inable doctrine." And the reply was that the "declaration has 
convinced Mr. Shirley he had mistaken the meaning of the doc- 
trinal points in the Minutes of the Conference held in London, 
August 7, 1770." 

Out of this affair grew a memorable controversy that ran 
through years. The literature of it is a permanent and rich 
contribution to the theology of Arminian Methodism. John 
Fletcher came forward as the defender of Wesley. He issued 
"The First Check to Antinomianism ; " but he did not content 
himself with defending the doctrinal consistency and orthodoxy 
of Wesley, so far merely as the Minutes were concerned. He 
thoroughly discussed various other points of the quinquarticular 
controversy; and he, as well as Wesley, was quickly assailed by 
a number of replies, not couched in elegant or fraternal language.'^ 

Eichard Watson thus sums up and estimates the result of the 
controversy : 

jSIr, Fletcher's skill and admirable temper so fully fitted him to conduct the 
dispute Avhich liad arisen that Mr. Wesley left the contest chiefly to him, and 
calmly pursued his labors; and the whole issued in a series of publications, from 
the pen of the Yicar of Madeley, which, as a whole, can scarcely be too highly 
praised or valued. While the language endures, they will effectually operate as 
checks to Antinomianism in every subtle form which it may assume; and jaresent 
the pure and beautiful system of evangelical truth, as well guarded on the other 
hand against Pelagian self-sufficiency. The Kev. Augustus Toplady, Mr. (after- 
ward Sir Eichard) Hill, and his brother, the Kev. Eowland Hill, with the Eev. 
John Berridge, were his principal antagonists; but his learning, his acuteness, his 
brilliant talent at illustrating an argument, and, above all, the hallowed spirit in 
which he conducted the controversy, gave him a mighty superiority over his op- 
ponents ; and, although there will be a difierence of opinion, according to the sys- 

*This abusive style the Calvinists even of that da}^ disapproved of. Rowland Hill appears 
to have incurred the displeasure of some of his brethren ; for, in a second edition of his Gentle 
Stricture.';," he explains himself— lamely enough— that when he called Wesley "wretch," and 
" miscreant," they mu-t remember that "wretch" means "an unhappy person,'' and" miscre- 
ant,"" "one whoife belief is wrong! " 



336 



History of MetJiodism. 



terns which different readers have adopted, as to the side on which the victory of 
argument remains, there can be none as to which bore away the prize of temper. 

This controversy, painful as it was in many respects, and the cause of much un- 
hallowed joy to the profane wits of the day, who were not a little gratified at this 
exhibition of what they termed " spiritual giadiatorship," has been productive of 
important consequences in this cotintry. It showed to the pious and moderate 
Calvinists how well the richest views of evangelical truth could be united with Ar- 
minianism ; and it effected, by its bold and fearless exhibition of the logical con- 
sequences of the doctrines of the decrees, much greater moderation in«those Avho 
still admitted them, and gave birth to some softened modifications of Calvinism 
in the age that followed — an effect which has remained to this day. The disputes 
on these subjects have, since that time, been less frequent, and more temperate; 
nor have good men so much labored to depart to the greatest distance- from each 
other as to find a ground on which they could make the nearest approaches. This 
has been especially the case between the Methodists and evangelical Dissenters. 
Of Calvinism, since the period of this controversy, the Methodist preachers and 
Societies have been in no danger; so powerful and comjjlete was its effect upon 
them. At no Conference, since that of 1770, has it been necessary again to ask, 
"Wherein have we leaned too much to Calvinism?" 

In the Short History of the People called Methodists," Wes- 
ley says: "March 13, 1757, finding myself weak at Snowfields, I 
prayed that God, if he saw good, would send me help at the chap- 
els. He did so. As soon as I had done preaching Mr. Fletcher 
came, who had just then been ordained priest, and hastened to 
the chapel on pnrpose to assist me, as he supposed me to be alone. 
Hovr wonderful are the ways of God! When my bodily strength 
failed, and no clergj^man in England was able and willing to as- 
sist me, he sent me help from the mountains of Switzerland; and 
a helpmeet for me in every resjoect. "Where could I have found 
such another?" 

John William de la Flechere was born in Xyon, in 1729, de- 
scended of a noble Savoyard family. Eeligiously inclined from 
his youth, he was designed by his parents for the Church. He 
won distinguished success in the ITniYersity of Geneva, but aban- 
doned his intention of entering the ministry, feeling unable con- 
scientiously to subscribe to the Calvinistic doctrines of the 
Church of his country. His purpose was turned to a military life ; 
but disai^pointed therein, he came to England, and engaged as a 
tutor in a family whose winters were spent in London, where he 
heard the gospel to his conviction and conversion. He joined a 
Methodist class in London, and continued for some time in the 
metropolis assisting Wesley, and preaching and administering 
the Lord's Supper at Lady Huntingdon's mansion. The patron, 



John Fletcher. 



337 



in whose family he had been tutor, offered him the living of Dun- 
ham — parish small, labor light, and income good (£400). But 
Fletcher had preached several times in the populous parish of 
Madeley, and had conceived such sympathy for its wretched in- 
habitants that he declined the offer of Dunham as affording "too 
much money and too little work." His patron gave Dunham to 
the Yicar of Madeley, and secured the latter for him, with more 
work and less pay. He thus became settled in the obscure par- 
ish which his name has rendered familiar to the Protestant world. 
It was a region of mines and manufactures, with debased popu- 
lation, and small congregation. For months he went about his 
parish on the Sabbath morning, with bell in hand, to awake such 
as excused their neglect of worship by alleging that they could 
not wake early enough to prepare their families for the service. 

With Wesley he counseled and cooperated, while maintaining 
the independent position of his vicarage: this gave great ad- 
vantage to his defenses of Wesleyan doctrine and polity. On 
the breaking out of the Calvinistic controversy. Lady Hunting- 
don dismissed Benson, the head of Trevecca College, because 
he did not believe the doctrine of absolute predestination. 
Fletcher wrote her that he did hold " the possibility of salvation 
for all men. If this is what you call Mr. Wesley's opinion and 
Arminianism, and if every Arminian must quit the college, I am 
actually discharged; for, in my present view of things, I must 
hold that sentiment if I believe that the Bible is true and that 
God is love." And he resigned the presidency of the college. 
In the controversy that followed, his saintliness of character was 
admitted even by opponents. Speaking of a call he made on 
Fletcher during tJiis discussion, a visitor remarks, " I went to see 
a man with one foot in the grave, but found him with one foot 
in heaven. As he entered the parsonage twenty years after, 
Berridge ran and took him in his arms, exclaiming: "My dear 
brother, this is indeed a satisfaction I never expected! How 
could we write against each other, when we both aim at the same 
thing, the glory of God and the good of souls?" 

Wesley desired Fletcher, his coadjutor, to be his successor also; 
but his health gave way, and he modestly doubted his own fitness 
for such a heavy care. He was married in 1781 to Mary Bosan- 
quet, and thus two saintly lives were given, in one volume, to 
Christian biography. His death occurred four years afterward. 
22 



338 



History of Methodkm. 



The year tlie liealth of John Fletcher failed, Wesley formed 
an acquaintance with Thomas Coke. Born and educated at 
Brecon, Wales, Coke was now twenty-nine years of age. He had 
taken his degrees at Oxford, had received episcopal ordination, 
and was curate at South Petherton. A friend loaned him the ser- 
mons and journals of Wesley, and the "Checks" of Fletcher. 
These books were, to use his own words, " the blessed means of 
bringing me among the despised people called Methodists, with 
whom, God being my helper, I am determined to live and die." 
Wesley writes: "1776, August 13. — I preached at Taunton, and 
afterward went with Mr. Brown to Kingston. Here I found a 
clergjanan. Dr. Coke, late a gentleman commoner of Jesus Col- 
lege, Oxford, who came twenty miles on purpose to meet me. I 
had much conversation with him ; and a union then began which, 
I trust, shall never end." Thomas Maxfield, who, having ob- 
tained ordination, had left Wesley and was pastor of an Inde- 
pendent congregation near Petherton, was useful to the awakened 
curate in explaining to him the way of salvation. Another cir- 
cumstance happened at this time that greatly assisted Dr. Coke 
in obtaining peace of mind. He had occasion to visit a wealthy 
family in Devonshire, and among the laborers employed there 
was a pious man, a member of the Methodist Society, who was 
the leader of a small class. The Doctor found him out, and they 
conversed very freely on the nature of pardon and the evidences 
that accompany it, the witness of the Spirit, and the manner in 
which we must come to God. After conversation they joined in 
prayer, and were so united in spirit that Dr. Coke wished to know 
something more about the Methodists, of whom he had heard so 
many strange reports. 

From the pulpit he soon announced the blessing he had expe- 
rienced, and his language partook of the fervor of his spirit. 
His custom of reading sermons was succeeded by the more nat- 
ural and appropriate practice of preaching extemporaneously. 
God was pleased to acknowedge his servant, by attending his 
word wdth a peculiar unction, and under his first extemporary 
sermon three souls were awakened. Preaching without a book, 
the earnestness of his exhortations, the plainness of his reproofs, 
and his establishing evening lectures in the village, all conspired 
to give offense, and to create a general ferment in the parish. 
As he had introduced into the church the practice of singing 



Thomas Coke — Deed of Declaration. 



339 



hymns, the choir was greatly disgusted, and all parties joined 
in the clamor against him. The rector dismissed him with every 
circumstance of indignity, and to complete the triumph of his 
enemies the parish bells chimed out the curate who had been 
dubbed a Methodist. 

At the Conference of 1778, Thomas Coke was stationed in Lon- 
don. The report of his conversion, of his energetic preaching, 
and his ill treatment at Petherton, reached London before his 
appointment there, and excited strong prepossessions in his favor. 
His popularity in London was great, his congregations large, 
and the Lord owned and blessed his labors with success. In the 
year 1780 Coke began to travel extensively, under the direction 
of Wesley, visiting and regulating the Societies; and from this 
time he continued traveling almost incessantly, by land or water, 
until death ended his earthly career. In the course of his jour- 
neyings he visited Petherton. During his absence, time had 
wrought a change in the disposition of the inhabitants, and pro- 
cured for him a gratifying reception. "Well," said some of his 
former opponents, " we chimed him out, and now we will atone for 
our error by ringing him in." 

From the increase of the Societies in Ireland, Wesley judged 
it necessary to hold a separate Conference for the Irish preach- 
ers. The first session was in Dublin, 1782. By Wesley's direc- 
tion. Coke presided in it; and from this time for nearly thirty 
years he generally filled the presidential chair in the Irish Con- 
ference, and when not president of the British Conference, he 
v^^as accustomed to act as its secretary. Wesley called him his 
right-hand. 

To Dr. Coke is credited the suggestion which secured the Wes- 
leyan chapels, and consequently the economy of Wesleyan Meth- 
odism, after the death of the Pounder. Most of the trust deeds 
secured the right of appointing preachers for the chapels to him, 
vvdiile many vested that right in the Conference. But who were 
the Conference? It was composed of such preachers as Mr. 
Wesley called together to counsel with him, and none others. At 
his death the word Conference would have no legal meaning. 
This result many feared, and some hoped, would prove fatal to 
the union of the Societies. Wesley, after legal advice, prepared 
a "Deed of Declaration," constituting one hundred preachers, 
whom he namor] therein, the Conference of the people called 



340 



History of Methodism. 



Methodists — making provision for the filling of vacancies and for 
their annual meeting, and defining their duties and powers so as 
to secure the occupancy of the meeting-houses, and other Socie- 
ty property, to the Methodists, according to the original design. 
This deed being recorded in the High Court of Chancery, the 
questions of identity, doctrine, and government were settled. 

The " Deed " has stood the test of litigation and of revolution. 
It has proved a sheet-anchor. Of course preachers who were ex- 
pecting to settle down into snug berths of Independency upon the 
dissolution of the United Society were disappointed, as also were 
trustees, who meant to call and govern pastors; and land propri- 
etors, who were waiting for the buildings and grounds to revert. 
A few itinerants, of age and standing, whose names were not 
included in the legal hundred, were displeased and withdrew. 
"Whitehead and Hampson, wrote, each in his own style, a history 
of Wesley and Methodism, from which the enemies of both have 
not ceased, to this day, to supply themselves with weapons offen- 
sive. But the " Deed " was accepted by the great body of preach- 
ers and people as a timely and most judicious instrument. After 
some perturbations, the practical good sense and constitution- 
abiding temper which are characteristic of Englishmen prevailed, 
and Wesleyan Methodism settled down to its great mission. 

The "Deed of Declaration," while conserving the doctrinal 
and itinerant plan under which Methodism had worked for more 
than forty years, proved sufficiently flexible, under the patient 
and wise handling of Englishmen, for the expansion of educa- 
tional and missionary operations to an extent not dreamed of by 
Wesley; and also, in late years, for the admission of a practical 
system of lay representation at the Annual Conference. Instead 
of being scattered at the death of their Founder, the Societies 
struck their roots deeper, and extended their branches wider. 
Says Thomas Jackson : " Extensive revivals broke out in several 
places; new Societies were formed, and older ones were quickened 
and augmented; and many chapels, of various sizes, were erected 
and enlarged. Within ten years after Mr. Wesley's death, the 
Societies were increased in Great Britain alone more than forty 
thousand members; and in twenty years, they were increased up- 
ward of one hundred thousand." 

At the British Conference of 1784, the "Deed of Declaration," 
which gave consistency and permanence to Methodism at home. 



Church Government for America. 



was announced as enrolled and in operation; and at the same 
Conference was announced the carrying out of another measure 
of equal importance to Methodism in America. It had been un- 
der consideration and virtually determined on before ; but Fletch- 
er was present with Wesley and Coke at the Leeds Conference, 
and there, with his assistance, the details were settled. 

The zeal, the ability, and the piety which Coke had for several 
years manifested, both in England and Ireland, combined to 
point him out as the most suitable person to engage in this ardu- 
ous work, and to assume that character with which Wesley was 
about to invest him. Accordingly, in the month of February, 
1784, he called Coke into his private chamber, and, after some 
preparatory observations, introduced the important subject to 
him in nearly the following manner: 

That, as the Eevolution in America had separated the United States from the 
mother country forever, and the Episcopal Establishment was utterly abolished, 
tlie Societies had been represented to him in a most deplorable condition. That 
an appeal had also been made to him through Mr, Asbury, in which he Avas re- 
quested to provide for them some mode of Church government suited to their 
exigences; and that having long and seriously revolved the subject in his thoughts, 
he intended to adopt the plan which he was now about to unfold. That as he had 
invariably endeavored, in every step he had taken, to keep as closely to the Bible 
as possible, so, on the present occasion, he hoped he was not about to deviate from 
it. That, keeping his eyes upon the conduct of the primitive Churches in the 
ages of- unadulterated Christianity, he had much admired tlie mode of ordaining 
bishops which the Church of Alexandria had practiced. That to preserve its pu- 
rity, that Church would never suffer the interference of a foreign bishop in any of 
their ordinations; but that the presbyters of that venerable apostolic Church, on 
the death of a bishop, exercised the right of ordaining another from their own 
body, by the laying on of their own hands ; and tliat this practice continued among 
them for two hundred years, till the days of Dionysius. And finally, that, being 
himself a presbyter, he wished Dr. Coke to accept ordination from his hands, and 
to proceed in that character to the continent of America, to superintend the Soci- 
ties in the United States.'^ 

Coke was startled at a measure so unprecedented in modern 
days, and time was allowed him to deliberate on it. Two months, 
however, had scarcely elapsed, before he wrote to Mr. Wesley, 
informing him that he was ready to cooperate with him. At the 
ensuing Conference (Leeds, 1784), Wesley stated his intention 
to the preachers present. Whatcoat and Yasey offered their 
services to accompany Dr. Coke in the character of missionaries. 
It is to this measure that Wesley alludes in his journal: "On 

"^Life of Coke, by Samuel Drew, page 64. 



342 



Histonj of MetJioclism. 



Wednesday, September 1st, being now clear in my own mind, I 
took a step which I had long weighed." 

The Conference at Leeds ended, Wesley repaired to Bristol, 
and Coke to London to make arrangements for his departure. 
He had not, however, been long in London, before he received a 
letter from Wesley, requesting him to repair immediately to Bris- 
tol, and to bring Avith him the Rev. Mr. Creighton, a regularly 
ordained minister, who was then officiating in Wesley's chapels 
in London, and assisting him in various branches of his minis- 
terial duties. The Doctor and Mr. Creighton accordingly met 
him in Bristol, when, with their assistance, he ordained Eicliard 
Whatcoat and Thomas Yasey presbyters for America, having first 
ordained them deacons; and being peculiarly attached to every 
rite of the Church of England, he afterward ordained Dr. Coke 
a superintendent, or bishop, being assisted therein by j)resby- 
ters, according to tlie usual order, and gave him letters of ordina- 
tion under his hand and seal. Of these letters of ordination the 
following is a copy, carefully transcribed from the original in 
Wesley's own handwriting: 

To all to whom these presents shall come, John Wesley^ late Fellow of Lincoln 
College, in Oxford, Preshyter of the Church of England, sendeth greeting. 

Whereas many of the people in the southern provinces of Korth America, who 
desire to continue under my care, and still adhere to the doctrines and discipline 
cf the Clmrch of England, are greatly distressed for want of ministers to adminis- 
ter the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, according to the usage of the 
said Church ; and whereas there does not appear to be any other way of supplying 
them with ministers: 

Know all men that I, John Wesley, think myself to be providentially called 
at tliis time to set apart some persons for the work of the ministry in America. 
And therefore, under the protection of Almighty God, and with a single eye to his 
slorv, I have this day set apart, as a Superintendent, by the imposition of my 
liands, and prayer (being assisted by other ordained ministers), Thomas Coke, Doc- 
tor of Civil Law, a Presbyter of the Church of England, and a man whom I judge 
to be well qualified for that great work. And I do hereby recommend him to all 
wliom it may concern as a fit person to preside over the flock of Christ. In testi- 
mony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this second day of Septem- 
ber, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four. 

John Wesley. 

Wesley wrote the following letter, which Dr. Coke was directed 
to print and circulate among the Societies on his arrival in Amer- 
ica, and which, accordingly, was printed and circulated in Amer- 
ica, and made the basis of the further action that was taken after 
his arrival. It possesses high historical value and importance: 



Wesley's Circular Letter. 



343 



"Beistol, September 10, 1784. 
" To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbiiry, and our brethren in North America. 

" By a very -ancommon train of providences, many of the prov- 
inces of North America are totally disjoined from the mother 
country, and erected into independent States. The English Gov- 
ernment has no authority over them, either civil or ecclesiastical, 
any more than over the States of Holland. A civil authority is 
exercised over them, partly by the Congress, partly by the pro- 
vincial assemblies. But no one either exercises or claims any 
ecclesiastical authority at all. In this peculiar situation, some 
thousands of the inhabitants of these States desire my advice; 
and in compliance with their desire, I have drawn up a little 
sketch. 

" Lord King's account of the primitive Church convinced me, 
many years ago, that bishops and presbyters are the same order, 
and consequently have the same right to ordain. For many years 
I have been importuned, from time to time, to exercise this right, 
by ordaining part of our traveling preachers. But I have still 
refused; not only for peace's sake, but because I was determined, 
as little as possible, to violate the established order of the na- 
tional Church, to which I belonged. 

" But the case is widely different between England and North 
America. Here are bishops who have a legal jurisdiction. In 
America there are none, neither any parish ministers; so that for 
some hundreds of miles together there is none either to baptize 
or administer the Lord's Supper. Here, therefore, my scruples 
are at an end; and I conceive myself at full liberty, as I violate 
no order, and invade no man's right, by appointing and sending 
laborers into the harvest. 

"I have accordingly appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Francis As- 
bury to be joint superintendents over our brethren in North 
America; as also Kichard Wliatcoat and Thomas Yasey to act as 
elders among them, by baptizing and administering the Lord's 
Supper. And I have prepared a liturgy, little differing from that 
of the Church of England ( I think the best constituted national 
Church in the world), which I advise all the traveling preachers 
to use on the Lord's-day in all the congregations, reading the 
litany only on Wednesdays and Fridays, and praying extempore 
on all other days. I also advise the elders to administer the 
Supper of the Lord on every Lord's-day. 



344 



History of Metliodism. 



"If any one will point oat a more rational and scriptural way 
of feeding and guiding these poor sheep in the wilderness, I will 
gladly embrace it. At present I cannot see any better method 
than that I have taken. 

" It has indeed been proposed to desire the English bishops to 
ordain part of onr preachers for America. But to this I object: 
1. I desired the Bishop of London to ordain one, but could not 
prevail. 2. If they consented, w^e know the slow^ness of their 
proceedings; but the matter admits of no delay. 3. If they 
would ordain them now, they w^ould expect to govern them. And 
how grievously w^ould this entangle us! 4. As our American 
brethren are now totally disentangled, both from the State and 
the English hierarchy, we dare not entangle them again either 
with the one or the other. They are now at full liberty simply to 
follow the Scriptures and the primitive Church. And w^e judge 
it best that they should stand fast in that liberty v/herewith God 
has so strangely made them free. John Wesley." 

The abridgment of the English liturgy, alluded to in the 
above paper, was not only prepared but printed by Wesley, and 
sent out by Coke. Besides containing the " Sunday service," 
it contained forms for the administration of baptism and the 
Lord's Supper, for marriage and burial, and also forms for the 
ordination of deacons, elders, and superintendents — the three 
distinct offices of the ministry in an episcopally constituted 
Church. The name of bishop, in the English ordinal, is changed 
to superintendent, and the name of presbyter, or priest, to elder 
— the new names being, in both cases, synonymous with the old 
ones, and the relative duties the same. 

Being now prepared for the great work before him, Thomas 
Coke, with his companions, Bichard Whatcoat and Thomas Yasey^ 
embarked on board a vessel bound to New York. They sailed 
from Bristol on the 18th of September. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



The Christmas Conference — Events Before and After — Organization and Church 
Extension — Asbury Crossing the Mountains — Methodism Planted on the South- 
ern Frontier — On the Western — On the Northern — And in Novia Scotia. 

BISHOP COKE and tlie two accompanying presbyters 
landed at New York, November 3, 1784, and were wel- 
comed by John Dickins, the Methodist preacher of the city. 
He had been one of the Flnvanna Conference. The letter, four 
years before, setting forth the preachers' appeal to the Founder 
of Methodism for help had been drawn by his hand. The help- 
ers had come, and the provisions for the case were so complete 
and satisfactory that he not only approved them but wished to 
publish the whole scheme at once, for the pleasure of all con- 
cerned. It was deemed expedient, however, to make no fur- 
ther disclosure till Asbury could be consulted. 

Preaching and traveling toward the South, they passed through 
Philadelphia, and came to Wilmington, to Dover, and to a chapel 
where Asbury had a quarterly-meeting appointed. He was com- 
ing up from the peninsula to hold it. Judge Barratt contributed 
so liberally to the building of this first chapel in Delaware that 
it was called by his name. Of brick, forty-eight by forty-two 
feet, with galleries and a vestry, it w^as long considered the best 
country chapel in Methodism. It required influence as well as 
money to build it; for when so substantial a structure was going 
up, one of the Sanballats of the community declared it was " un- 
necessary to provide such a place of worship for the Methodists, 
for by the time the war is over a corn-crib will hold them all." 
On Sunday, November 14, Coke arrived, with Whatcoat, at Bar- 
ratt's Chapel. He is in the midst of new and interesting scenes, 
and describes them: 

In this chapel in the midst of a forest, I had a noble congregation, to whom T 
endeavored to set forth the Redeemer as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, 
and redemption. After the sermon, a plain, robust man came up to me in the 
pulpit and kissed me. I thought it could be no other than Mr. Asbury, and I was 
not deceived. I administered the sacrament, after preaching, to five or six hun- 
dred communicants, and held a love-feast. It was the best season I ever knew, 
except one at Charlemont in Ireland. After dinner Mr. Asbury and I had a pri- 

(345) 



346 



History of Methodism. 



vate conversation on the future management of our affairs in America. He in- 
formed me that he had received some intimations of my arrival on the continent, 
and had collected a considerable number of the preachers to form a council, and 
if they were of opinion that it would be expedient immediately to call a Confer- 
ence, it should be done. They were accordingly sent for, and, after debate, were 
unanimously of that opinion. AVe therefore sent off Freeborn Garrettson, like an 
arrow, from nortli to south, directing him to send messengers to the right and left, 
and to gather all the preachers together at Baltimore on Christmas-eve. Mr. As- 
bury has also drawn up for me a route of about a thousand miles in the meantiif^e. 
He has given me his black (Harry by name), and borrowed an excellent horse for 
me. I exceedingly reverence Mr. Asbury; he has so much of wisdom and consid- 
eration, so much meekness and love; and under all this, though hardly to be per- 
ceived, so much command and authority. He and I had agreed to use our joint 
endeavors to establish a school or college. I baptized here thirty or forty infants, 
and seven adults. We had indeed a precious time at the baptism of the adults. 

Asbury knew not that Coke was present till lie arrived at the 
chapel. The occasion was a quarterly-meeting of the circuit, and 
fifteen of the preachers and a host of the laity were there. Eze- 
kiel Cooper, who became an eminent preacher, was a spectator of 
the scene, and says: "While Coke was preaching, Asbury came 
into the congregation. A solemn pause and deep silence took 
place at the close of the sermon, as an interval for introduction 
and salutation. Asbury and Coke, with hearts full of brotherly 
love, approached, embraced, and saluted each other. The other 
preachers, at the same time, were melted into sympathy and tears. 
The congregation also caught the glowing emotion, and the whole 
assembly, as if struck with a shock of heavenly electricity, burst 
into a flood of tears. Every heart appeared overflowing with love 
and fellowship, and an ecstasy of joy and gladness ensued. I can 
never forget the affecting scene. The sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper was administered, by the Doctor and Whatcoat, to several 
hundred, and it was a blessed season to many souls, while in the 
holy ordinance they discerned, through faith, the Lord's body, 
and showed forth his death. It is the more affecting to my mem- 
ory, as it was the first time I ever partook of the Lord's Supper, 
and the first time that the ordinance was ever administered among 
the Methodists by their own regularly ordained preachers." 

The route planned for Coke was through the Eastern Shore, and 
Black Harry was guide, servant, and assistant preacher. " I have 
now," he writes, on the 29th of November, "had the pleasure of 
hearing Harry preach several times. I sometimes give notice, 
immediately after preaching, that in a little time he will preach 



Cohe and Ashurij. 



347 



to tlie blacks; but tlie whites always stay to hear him. It is ro- 
mantic to see such numbers of horses fastened to the trees. Be- 
ing engaged in the most solemn exercises of religion, for three 
or four hours every day, I hardly know the day of the week; 
every one appears to me like the Lord's-day. Perhaps I have, 
in this tonr, baptized more children and adults than I should in 
my ^diole life if stationed in an English parish." 

Coke x^^issed through Queen Anne county — where Thomas 
Ware, a young preacher, sketches him : 

He passed through our circuit. I met him on the Eastern Shore of Mary Land. 
At first I "was not pleased with his appearance. His stature, complexion, and voice 
resembled tliose of a woman rather than those of a man; and his manners were 
too courtly for me. So unlike was he to the grave and, as I conceived, apostolic 
Ashnry, that his appearance did not prepossess me favorably. He had several 
appointments on the circuit, to which I conducted him; and, before we parted, I 
saw so many things to admire in him that I no longer marveled at his being se- 
lected by Wesley to serve us in the capacity of a superintendent. In public he 
was generally admired, and in private he was very communicative and edifying. 
At one time, in a large circle, he expressed himself in substance as follows : " I am 
charmed by the spirit of my American brethren. Their love to Mr. Wesley is not 
surpassed by that of their brethren in Europe. It is founded on the excellence — 
the divinity — of the religion which he lias been the instrument of reviving, and 
which has shed its benign influence on this land of freedom. I see," he continued, 
with a countenance glowing with delight, ''a great and effectual door opened for 
the promulgation of Methodism in America, whose institutions I greatly admire, 
and ^diose prosperity I no less wish than I do that of the land which gave me 
birth. In the presence of Mr. Asbury I feel myself a child. He is, in my esti- 
mation, the most apostolic man I ever saw, except Mr. Wesley." 

Thomas Ware had been admitted on trial in May preceding, 
and in this connection we may present his impressions of As- 
bury: " It was the first Conference I attended. There was quite a 
number of preachers present. Although there were but few on 
whose heads time had begun to snow, yet several of them ap- 
peared to be way-worn and wreath er-beaten into premature old 
age. Among these pioneers, Asbury, by common consent, stood 
first and chief. There was something in his person, his eye, his 
mien, and in the music of his voice, which interested all who saw 
and heard him. He possessed much natural wit, and was capa- 
ble of the severest satire; but grace and good sense so far pre- 
dominated that he never descended to any thing beneath the dig- 
nity of a man and a Christian minister. In prayer he excelled." 
Garrettson says, "He prayed the best, and he prayed the most, 



348 



Historij of Methodism. 



of any man I ever knew." Another declared that though a strong 
preacher, and sometimes impressively eloquent, his prayers nearly 
always made his sermons a disappointment to strangers. 

Whatcoat and Vasey had accompanied Asbnry from Barratt's 
Chapel over the Western Shore of Maryland. The 26th of No- 
vember Asbnry observed " as a day of fasting and prayer, that I 
might," he says, "know the will of God in the matter that is 
shortly to come before our Conference; the preachers and people 
seem to be much pleased with the projected plan; I myself am 
led to think it is of the Lord. I am not tickled Avith the honor 
to be gained; I see danger in the way. My soul waits upon God. 
O that he may lead us in the way we should go! " 

About the middle of December they all met at Perry Hall, and 
Gough's ample hospitalities were well suited to their deliberations. 
"Here," says Coke, "I have a noble room to myself, where Mr. 
Asbury and I may, in the course of a week, mature every thing 
for the Conference." Garrettson had proved a good herald."" In 
six weeks he had compassed most of the land, and gathered to 
Baltimore over sixty out of eighty-tliree traveling preachers. 
On Friday, the 24th of December, 1784, the little company at 
Perry Hall rode to Baltimore, and at ten o'clock a.m. began the 
first " General Conference," in the Lovely Lane Chapel. 

Coke took the chair, and the " Circular Letter " of Wesley was 
read. In accordance with this document, says Asbury, " it was 
agreed to form ourselves into an Episcopal Church, and to have 
superintendents, elders, and deacons." Asbury declined ordina- 
tion to the superintendency, unless, in addition to the appoint- 
ment of Wesley, his brethren should formally elect him to that 
office. He was unanimously elected; and on the second day of the 
session (25th) he was ordained deacon by Coke, assisted by his 
presbyters, Yasey and Whatcoat; on Sunday, the third day, they 
ordained him elder ; on Monday he was consecrated superintendent, 
or bishop — his friend, Otterbein, of the German Church, assist- 
ing Coke and his elders in the rite, at Asbury' s special request. 
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were spent in enacting rules 
of discipline, and in the election of preachers to orders. On Fri- 

*Jesse Lee, ayIio was not there, says of Garrettson: "But being fond of preach.- 
ing by the "svay, and thinking he could do the business by writing, he did not give 
timely notice to the preachers who were in the extremities of the work; and of 
course several of them were not at that Conference." 



The "Christmas Conference''' 



349 



day several deacons were ordained; on Saturday, January 1st, 
the project of Cokesbury College at Abingdon was considered; 
on Sunday, the 2d, ten elders (previously ordained deacons) and 
one deacon were ordained; and then the General Confeience — 
known as the Christmas Conference — adjourned. 

The elders were John Tunnell, "William Gill, Le Koy Cole, 
Nelson Eeed, John Haggerty, Keuben Ellis, Kichard Ivey, Hen- 
ry Willis, James O' Kelly, and Beverly Allen. Tunnell and Wil- 
lis were "on the extremities of the work," and perhaps were ab- 
sent on that account. They and Allen were ordained subsequent- 
ly. John Dickins, Ignatius Pigman, and Caleb Boyer were chosen 
deacons. Boyer and Pigman were ordained in June following 
at the Conference in Baltimore. In compliance with the call 
from Nova Scotia, Garrettson and James O. CromAvell were or- 
dained elders for that province. Jeremiah Lambert was ordained 
to the same office for Antigua, in the West Indies. 

Watters says that Wesley's plan was adopted, "in a regular 
formal manner, with not one dissenting voice." Black, from 
Nova Scotia, had come for help; he gazed upon the scene with 
admiration. " Perhaps," he says, " such a number of holy, zeal- 
ous, godly men never before met together in Maryland, perhaps 
not on the continent of America." Their work of ten days has 
been before us for a century, and speaks for itself. Says a chron- 
icler of the occasion: " The secret of their success was their one- 
ness of spirit. Like the disciples in the chamber at Jerusalem, 
'they were all of one heart and of one mind.' Whoever looks 
at the system of rules or of government devised and sent forth 
by the General Conference of 1784 must concede to it a ' whole- 
sidedness,' and unselfishness both as it regards the preachers 
themselves and the people under their care." 

Coke's ordination sermon was published. It did not fall dead 
from the press. He was called to account in England for some 
expressions in it — perhaps for these: "You may now perceive the 
dreadful effects of raising immoral or unconverted men to the gov- 
ernment of the Church. The baneful influence of their exam- 
ple is so extensive that the skill and cruelty of devils can hardly 
fabricate a greater curse than an irreligious bishop. But thou, 
O man of God, follow after righteousness, godliness, patience, 
and meekness. Be an example to the believers in word, in con- 
versation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." 



350 



Hisfort/ of Methodism. 



The "Articles of Eeligion" prepared by Wesley are an abridg- 
ment of the " Thirtj^-nine Articles" of the Church of England, 
omitting the third, eighth, thirteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth (Cal- 
vinistic), eighteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-third, thirtj^- 
fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seyenth of the latter, also parts of the 
sixth, ninth, and nineteenth, and introducing verbal emendations 
of others. These, being for the first time proposed in form, were 
unanimously adopted. The Conference added an article on Civil 
Enlers, numbered twenty-three; making in all twenty-five. 

The standards of doctrine received by British Methodism, and 
in the late "Deed of Declaration" named, were Wesley's four 
volumes of sermons (comprising from one to fifty-three, in our 
cuiTent series) and "Xotes on the ]^ew Testament." These had 
also been received in America, and the preachers in Conference 
assembled had more than once pledged themselves to "preach 
the doctrines taught in the four volumes of sermons and the 
' Notes on the New Testament.' " They had also resolved, by 
way of guarding against unsound European preachers who might 
come over, to hold them to that doctrinal test. The "Articles " 
are a terse and strong setting forth of Christian dogma, so far 
as ihej go; and they could not have been left out of any abridg- 
ment of the "Book of Common Prayer," by Wesley, without an 
improper inference; but there are essential Wesleyan doctrines 
not mentioned in them, as the witness of the Si3irit and Chris- 
tian perfection. The "Articles of Eeligion," together with the 
" established standards " of doctrine, make a system as complete 
as it is orthodox; and Episcopal Methodism has not only been 
faithful to these Articles and standards, but has thrown around 
them the strongest constitutional guards. 

Under the "General Eules" the membershij) of Methodism, 
both in England and America, had been gathered; and this brief 
and, for its size, very complete system of Christian ethics or 
morals was ordered to be read "'once a year in eveiy congrega- 
tion, and once a quarter in every Society." 

No person could be ordained a superintendent, elder, or deacon, 
without the consent of a majority of the Conference, and the 
consent and imposition of the hands of a sux^erintendent. The 
superintendent was made amenable for his conduct to the Con- 
ference, " who have power to expel him for improper conduct if 
they see it necessary." If by death, expulsion, or otherwise, 



Doings of the Christmas Conference. 



351 



there be no superintendent remaining in our Clmrch, " the Con- 
ference shall elect one, and the elders, or any three of them, shall 
ordain him according to our liturgy." 

The business was transacted under the form of questions and 
answers: "Question 37: What shall be the regular annual salary 
of the elders, deacons, and helpers? Answer: Sixty-four dollars 
and no more; and for each preacher's wife sixty-four dollars; and 
for each preacher's child, if under the age of six years, there shall 
be allowed sixteen dollars; and for each child of the age of six 
and under the age of eleven years twenty-one dollars and thirty, 
three cents." This rule of allowance for children was canceled 
in 1787; and no regular provision was made until 1800. 

It was enacted: " We will on no account whatsoever suffer any 
elder or deacon among us to receive a fee or present for admin- 
istering the ordinance of marriage, baptism, or the burial of 
the dead; freely we receive, and freely we give." "After a few 
years," says Jesse Lee, " it was thought best to take a present for 
performing the marriage ceremony ; and for the money so received 
to be given in to the stewards of the circuit, to be applied to the 
making up of the preacher's quarterage; but in case the preach- 
ers of the circuit received their quarterage without it, then the 
money so received should be brought to the next Conference, 
and be applied to the making up of the deficiencies of the preach- 
ers. But there was another alteration made in 1800, and each 
preacher was then allov/ed to take for marrying people what they 
chose to give him, and to keep it, without giving any account of 
it; which custom has prevailed ever since." Connectionalism, 
unity, pervaded every thing. The ministry was yet one family, 
with common privations and common resources. 

The Conference devised a plan of relief for "superannuated 
preachers, and the widows and orphans of preachers." It was 
called the "Preachers' Fund," and was to be provided by the 
preachers themselves paying, at their admission to the Confer- 
ence and annually afterward, two dollars. The Chartered Fund, 
incorporated in 1797, absorbed and superseded this plan. But 
the " Conference Collection " — the best reliance — an annual con- 
tribution by the Church in this behalf, soon came into vogue, and 
continues to this day. 

A strong deliverance on the subject of slavery was made, and 
specific and peremptory directions for emancipation were laid 



852 



History of MetJiodism. 



clown, to wliicli we must recur, in connection with the whole 
subject, for it made much history. 

The administration of the sacraments was provided for, and 
rules prescribed for uniformity and propriety and profiting in 
the same. The admission of persons into the Church was regu- 
lated, and also the form of public worship, of love-feasts, and 
class-meetings. Prohibitions were enacted against superfluity 
and extravagance in apparel, and the marriage of Christians with 
unawakened persons. Directions were given for singing, and 
how congregations should be seated — "let the men and women 
sit apart in all our chapels." 

Eules were given for the conduct of preachers: how their time 
should be occupied and their labors bestowed for the edification 
of the Church— in preaching, in visiting, in instructing the chil- 
dren, in studying: saving souls is the great business. 

The men of 1784 were mostly young or middle-aged. Several 
old heads were there on young shoulders. They were no consti- 
tution-mongers. Of course they left undone some things which 
afterward had to be done; and they did some things which had 
to be undone. Special legislation, from the beginning, has been 
prolific of repeals; and Methodists have been warned, from that 
day to this, not to be wise above what is written. 

They adjourned without providing for any subsequent General 
Conference. Xo division of the wide field into Annual Confer- 
ences, with boundaries, was made until twelve years later. The 
Bishojjs called the itinerant ministers to meet annually where it 
was most convenient for any considerable number of them. All 
such sessions, down to the organization of the quadrennial Gen- 
eral Conference, were considered as adjourned meetings of the un- 
divided ministry. The enactments of no one session were bind- 
ing on general questions till they had been virtually adopted at 
the other sessions of the same ecclesiastical year, and had thus 
become the expression of a majority of the ministry. 

Ko limitation of the pastoral term was fixed. Preachers had 
been exchanging circuits annually, semi-annually, and even quar- 
terly. In the "Deed of Declaration," the maximum had been 
fixed at three years for the British Methodists, and so re- 
mains to this day. Wesley was in principle an itinerant. 
Speaking of certain preachers, he said: "Be their talents ever so 
great, they will, erelong, grow dead themselves, and so will most 



Church Extension. 



353 



of those that hear them. I know, were I myself to preach one 
whole year in one place, I should preach both myself and most 
of my congregation asleep. Nor can I ever believe it was ever 
the will of our Lord that any congregation should have one 
teacher only. We have found, by long and constant experience, 
that a frequent change of teachers is best. This preacher has 
one talent, that another. No one, whom I ever knew, has all the 
talents which are needful for beginning, continuing, and perfect- 
ing the work of grace in a whole congregation." 

The work of Church extension began at the Christmas Con- 
ference. Asbury took horse the day after adjournment and rode 
forty miles. Lambert left for Antigua. Garrettson and Crom- 
well embarked for Nova Scotia, in view of which they had been 
ordained, about the middle of February ; a voyage, at that season, 
uncomfortable and even dangerous. Metliodism had obtained a 
limited existence among the colonists composing the Eastern 
British Provinces, about four years before, by the labors of Will- 
iam Black. He had succeeded in raising a few Societies, and 
came to Baltimore to press the importance of sending missiona- 
ries to that promising field. Garrettson and Cromwell landed at 
Halifax, and began their missionary labors — the first missionaries 
from the United States to "foreign lands;" and the first mission- 
ary collection of the Methodist Episcopal Church was taken up the 
same year by the bishops for the support of these missionaries 
(X30). They found there John Mann — a convert of Boardman 
in New York ten years before — who had supplied the John Street 
Church during the Eevolutionary War, while the English held 
the city. He joined with them, and made a fourth itinerant. They 
found also some loyal refugees from the States, and formed a Soci- 
ety with which to begin the organization of Methodism in the col- 
ony. The missionaries had success. They extended their field to 
the island of Newfoundland and to New Brunswick. Garrettson 
labored in these provinces for two years. Wesley, at his in- 
stance, sent other missionaries; and, when Garrettson returned 
to the States, there were in Nova Scotia over seven hundred mem- 
bers. Methodism has long had in Eastern British America thou- 
sands of members, with chapels and all the appliances of relig- 
ious prosperity, and an able corps of preachers. 

Bishop Asbury determined to occupy the fields which had been 
attempted nearly fifty years before by the Oxford Methodists^ 
23 



354 



History of Methodism. 



and turned his face to South Carolina and Georgia. He left 
Baltimore, January, 4, 1785, in company with Woolman Hickson, 
and on the 8th reached Culpepper, Virginia, where Henry Willis 
had stopped on his way to the Conference. The next day he read 
prayers, preached, and ordained Willis a deacon — his first act of 
ordination — and baptized some children. Henry Willis now 
joined himself to the company, and when they arrived at Carter's 
Church on the 18th, the Bishop ordained him elder, administered 
the sacrament, and held the love-feast. The Lord was with them 
eminently in each of these services. Henry Willis had gone be- 
3^ond the mountains the last year, and was too far west to be 
reached by Garrettson when summoning men to the Christmas 
Conference; but he got word of it and was trying to reach the 
post of duty, when Asbury met him. Under his guidance they 
passed into North Carolina, and reached the mansion of Colonel 
Herndon, on the head-waters of the Pedee, and within the bounds 
of the Yadkin Circuit. Here they rested for a few days, and 
made preparation for their journey into South Carolina. Jesso 
Lee came up from Salisbury to attend the Bishop's appointment 
at this place, and was requested to travel with him during his 
trip to the South. "Nothing," says Asbury, "could have better 
pleased our old Church folks than the late step we have taken in 
administering the ordinances; to the Catholic Presbyterians it 
also gives satisfaction; but the Baptists are discontented." 

The company, now fully formed, entered upon their journey, 
daily in every house ceasing not to teach and preach J esus Christ 
and him crucified. They entered South Carolina at Cheraw, and 
were welcomed to the hospitalities of a merchant who had been 
a Methodist in Virginia, and in whose employment there was a 
clerk, a native of Massachusetts. This young man gave Lee an 
account of the customs and religious life of New England, and 
kindled in him a desire, that ripened into a purpose, to visit that 
part of the country on a mission. They arrived at George- 
town, and Bishop Asbury preached at night to a serious con- 
gregation. Just as they were about to start for the place of wor- 
ship, the gentleman at whose house they w^ere stopping excusfid 
himself, "as it was his turn to superintend a ball that night." 
They prayed that if the Lord had called them to Georgetown, he 
would open the heart and house of ,some other person to receive 
them. At the close of the service Mr. Wayne, a cousin of Gen- 



Bishop Ashury in the South. 



355 



eral Anthony Wayne, invited them to call on him, and from that 
time his house became a home for Methodist preachers. They 
breakfasted with him, and on leaving he showed them the way 
to the river, and paid their ferriage. 

According to custom, Willis went ahead of the party to put 
out appointments for preaching; and their host was thoughtful 
and kind enough to furnish him with a letter of introduction to 
a friend in Charleston. Asbury's journal says: 

February 24. — We traveled on through a barren country, in all respects, to 
Charleston. We came that evening to Scott's, where the people seemed to be mer- 
ry ; they soon became mute. We talked and prayed with them. In the morning, 
when we took our leave of them, they would receive nothing. We met Brother Wil- 
lis. He had gone along before us, and had made an acquaintance with Mr. Wells, 
a respectable merchant of the city, to whom he had carried letters of introduction 
from Mr. Wayne. I jogged on, dejected in spirit, and came to Mr. Wells's. We 
obtained the use of an old meeting-liouse belonging to the General Baptists, in 
which they had ceased to preach. Brother Willis preached at noon, Brother Lee 
morning and evening. 

Charleston was almost as hard a place to gain a footing in as 
Paul and Silas found Philippi to be. " The inhabitants are vain 
and wicked to a proverb," is Asbury's observation. His first ser- 
mon was on March 2d; he " had but little enlargement." Next day 
the people were more solemn and attentive. "I find," he says, 
" there are here who oppose us — I leave the Lord to look to his 
own cause. I told my hearers that I expected to stay in the city 
but seven days; that I should preach every night, if they would 
favor me with their company, and that I should speak on sub- 
jects of primary importance to their souls, and explain the essen- 
tial doctrines taught and held by the Methodists." Then fol- 
lowed " a discourse on the nature of conviction for sin," and some 
appeared to feel. After a sermon on the nature and necessity 
of repentance, he adds: "Ministers who had represented our 
principles in an unfavorable light, and strove to prepossess the 
people's minds against our doctrines — even these ministers came 
to hear. This afternoon Mr. Wells began to feel conviction; my 
soul praised the Lord for this fruit of our labors, this answer to 
our prayers." Fruit begins to appear. Of Wednesday, the 8th 
of March, he writes: "I had a good time on Matthew vii. 7. In 
the evening the" clouds about Mr. Wells began to disperse ; in 
the morning he could rejoice in the Lord. How great is the 
work of God! — once a sinner, yesterday a seeker, and now his 



356 



Historij of Methodism. 



adopted child! Now we know that God hath brought us here, 
and have a hope that there will be a glorious vrork among the 
peoj)le— at least among the Africans." The day following he 
preached his last sermon, and leaves with these reflections: "I 
loved and pitied the x^eople, and left some under gracious im- 
pressions. We took our leave; and had the satisfaction of ob- 
serving that Mrs. Wells appeared to be very sensibly affected." 

On their return through Georgetown he "found Mrs. Wayne 
under deep distress of soul." So the work, as of old, begins and 
spreads. Henry Willis was left in Charleston, its first stationed 
preacher, and by his labors the church was organized which con- 
tinues to this day. 

Lee returned to his circuit and the Bishop passed on to meet 
the first Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in America, held at Green Hill's in North Carolina, April 20, 
1785. Willis at Charleston and Hickson at Georgetown made 
those points the centers of their movements. They traveled up 
the principal rivers — Pedee, Santee, Water ee, and Broad — and 
wherever settlements could be reached they established preach- 
ing-places. The next year, about the same time. Bishop Asbury 
made his second visit to South Carolina, and saw that seed had 
fallen upon good ground. Henry Willis came as far as George- 
town to meet him, and as they rode to Charleston, Asbury re- 
cords: " It was no small comfort to me to see a very good frame 
prepared for the erection of a meeting-house for us, on that very 
road along which, last year, we had gone pensive and distressed, 
without a friend to entertain us." The services on Sunday (Jan. 
15) in Charleston were hopeful: "We had a solemn time in the 
day, and a full house and good time in the evening. My heart 
was much taken up with God. Our congregations are large, and 
our people are encouraged to undertake the building of a meet- 
ing-house this year." 

The Conference at Green Hill's included all of Virginia, and of 
North and South Carolina, who could be present, and they were 
entertained in one house. Here Asbury was joined by Coke, who 
says: " There were about twenty preachers, or more, in one house, 
and by laying beds on the floors there was room for all. We 
spent three days, from Wednesday to Friday inclusive, in Con- 
ference, and a comfortable time we had together. In this divis- 
ion we had an increase of nine hundred and ninety-one this year, 



TJie Borders Stretched into Georgia. 



357 



and have stretched our borders into Georgia. Beverly Allen has 
all Georgia to range in." 

Beverly Allen was now ordained elder, and began to "range." 
He turned out to be one o£ those popular preachers who find 
work everywhere else but where they are appointed; who prom- 
ise much and come to nothing: he came to worse than nothing. 
The bad eminence of being the first apostate Methodist presby- 
ter is his. He managed to get up a personal correspondence 
with Wesley, by which he derived more consideration than he 
was entitled to; married rich; fell into sin; was expelled; went 
into business; failed; killed the marshal who was arresting him; 
fled to a part of Kentucky in Logan county then called "Rogues' 
Harbor;" became a Universalist, and went out in obscure dark- 
ness : all this within the next dozen years. Nevertheless^ faithful 
though less popular men were found to plant Methodism in 
Georgia, and heroically they did it. 

Next year John Major and Thomas Humphries were appointed 
to that State. Presiding elders and their districts were not yet so 
named and laid off; but an elder, to preach and administer the 
sacraments, was assigned to a given region. South Carolina and 
Georgia were under James Foster as elder this year (1786). He 
had traveled in Virginia for two years, but excessive fasting and 
labor in the open air had enfeebled his constitution, and he was 
forced to locate. He removed to South Carolina, where he found 
some emigrant Methodists, and formed a circuit among them. 
He reentered the Conference, and this was his first work. It 
was too great for him. His mental as well as his bodily strength 
gave way, and he retired after one year. He spent the rest of 
his life in visiting among Methodist families, conducting their 
family devotions with much propriety, though unable to preach 
to them. He was noted for his amenity, his fine personal appear- 
ance, and his usefulness. 

Thomas Humphries, like Foster, was a Yirginian, and had 
traveled three years in his native State and in North Carolina. 
After laboring a few years in Georgia, he moved to South Car- 
olina, located within the bounds of Pedee Circuit, and was a use- 
ful local preacher for the rest of his days. John Major, his coun- 
tryman and colleague, was called the weeping prophet. He did 
hard work for ten years, and ceased at once to work and live. 

There were at that date in Georgia, as far as we can get the 



358 



Hlstonj of Metliodism. 



facts, three EiDiscopal clmrclies T^itlioiit rectors, three Lutheran 
churches, three Presbyterian, and three Baptist. We may safely 
say there were not five hundred Christian people in all. The in- 
habitants numbered eighty thousand, white and black. The so- 
cial features of the country were those of all frontier settlements. 
The field was indeed a wide one, a hard one, and yet an inviting 
one. The two Georgia missionaries started from Conference for 
their work. They probably came at once to Wilkes county, 
where a few Yirginia Methodists had settled, and then began to 
explore and map out the country. They found the x^eople every- 
where destitute of the Word. Save one or two Baptist churches 
organized by Marshall and Mercer, there was no church of any 
name north of Augusta. The western boundary of the State 
was the Oconee Biver; the southern, Florida; in all this area 
there were not more than seven Christian ministers. The set- 
tlements were upon the creeks and rivers, and the inhabitants 
were thinly settled all over the face of the land. The dwell- 
ings were pole-cabins in the country, and even the villages were 
built largely of logs. There v/ere no houses of worship, and the 
missionaries preached only in private dwellings. The work had 
all to be laid out, and for the first year it is probable the two 
preachers visited together the settlements which were thickest, 
and organized Societies wherever they could. From the Minutes 
we conclude that they compassed the country from the Indian 
frontier on the north to the lovrer part of Burke county on 
the south. During the year four hundred and thirty members 
v\'ere brought into the Society, the larger number in Wilkes 
county.* 

One specimen of the mode and the measure of their operations 
may serve. Henry Parks, a strong and brave young man from 
North Carolina, with his young family settled in Elbert county, 
where he was employed to oversee a plantation. His wife, Eliza- 
beth Justice, had been baptized by Jarratt, and joined the Meth- 
odists; but her husband was a stranger alike to grace and to them. 
One day the news came that two Methodist preachers would hold 
a meeting in the neighborhood. She persuaded her husband to 
go and hear them, and for the first time he heard, from Major, the 
doctrine of a universal atonement. He determined to be saved, 
if he could be; was soon converted and joined the Methodist 



"Smith's History of Georgia. 



Rapid Growth of the Church. 



359 



Church ; made his house a preaching-place ; and afterward, with the 
help of his neighbors, built a meeting-house. God prospered him 
as far as he wished to be prospered in worldly matters, and blessed 
him with a large family. Of these William J. Parks was the 
youngest son, without mentioning whom the history of Georgia 
preachers and Methodism could hardly be written. The venera- 
ble patriarch lived until 1845. His descendants are among the 
leading Methodists of that State, and are very numerous. 

Major and Humphries had done good work during the year, 
and at the next Conference they were re enforced by two young 
men. Georgia v/as made a separate district, and Kichard Ivey 
was sent as elder. Circuits were nowdaid out. The Burke Cir- 
cuit, including all that section south and south-west of Augusta, 
was placed in charge of Major, with Matthew Harris to assist 
him. Thomas Humphries and Moses Park took charge of all 
the country north and north-west of Augusta. Of Ivey, the Min- 
utes say: "He was from Yirginia, a little man of quick and solid 
parts. He was a holy, self-denying Christian that lived to be 
useful. Many of the eighteen years that he was in the work he 
acted as an elder in charge of a district." He had acquired 
valuable experience before he came to Georgia, where, after 
four years' service, his health failed, and the needs of an invalid 
mother called him back home. A year after his location, he 
passed to his final reward. The preachers pursued their labors 
with great zeal, and at the end of 1787 there were over one thou- 
sand one hundred members. The Church had tripled its mem- 
bership in one year. This success was not to be wondered at. 
Ivey, Major, and Humphries were no common men, and the pio- 
neers of Georgia heard for the first time the doctrines of a uni- 
versal atonement and the Spirit's witness. 

It is supposed that during this year Humphries must have 
preached in Augusta, and perhaps in Savannah, but all that was 
accomplished was confined to the rural settlements. The Wash- 
ington Circuit, much the largest, included all that section of 
North-eastern and Eastern Georgia above Augusta. Georgia 
was long the Southern frontier. It has been propitious for Meth- 
odism. The leaven is in the lump, the seed is in the soil, and we 
must now leave it for awhile. 

South Carolina had been reenforced from the Conference 
held at Salisbury, February, 1786. Henry Willis returned to 



t 



360 



History of Metliodism. 



Charleston with Isaac Smith as his colleague. The last name in- 
troduces us to a new man, who is hereafter to spend and be spent 
on the Southern frontier. Isaac Smith, a native of Virginia, 
served as private and officer in the Eevolutionary War ; was present 
at the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, 
and Stony Point, and bore the honorable scars of the conflict to 
his grave. He had been a colleague of Lee, and also of Hum- 
phries in North Carolina, and is to fill prominent appointments in 
South Carolina till 1796; then he locates and engages in mercan- 
tile pursuits in Camden. Eeentering the itinerancy again, we 
shall meet with him where difficult posts are to be occupied. When 
he died in 1834, after more than half a century of ministerial la- 
bor, the Minutes record: " He was one of the fathers of the Church 
in this country, and entitled to be had in everlasting remembrance. 
We cannot trust ourselves to speak fully of him. He was the 
oldest, and, what was well becoming the father of the Conference, 
the most honored and beloved of all the preachers. Believing 
every word of God, meek above the reach of provocation, and 
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of love and devotion, he w^as 
a saint indeed." 

His name is entered in the appointment at Charleston, but 
this year he formed the famous Edisto Circuit, reaching from 
Savannah Biver to within thirty miles of Charleston, and from 
Coosawhatchie Swamp to Santee, returning to the ensuing Con- 
ference two hundred and forty white members and four colored. 
It was during this year (1786), while forming the Edisto Circuit, 
that, riding upon the banks of the Santee, he felt the need of a 
deeper consecration to God; and dismounting from his horse, in 
a grove beside the river, he had a season of wrestling prayer, 
and from that time the assurance of God's love never forsook 
him for an hour. He would often come from his closet, after 
remaining an hour upon his knees, with his face glowing with a 
heavenly light. Says the historian of that time: 

In this region (Edisto) the name Methodist was scarcely known till he visited 
it. The new name and his lieart-searching preaching caused much stir among the 
people, as they had heard but little preaching before, and knew nothing of exper- 
imental religion. Many were convicted and converted, and a number of Societies, 
were formed. It was no uncommon event for persons to fall under his pungent 
preaching as suddenly as if they had been shot. The doctrine of the new birth was 
no better understood by the people then than it Avas by Nicodemus, until they were 
enlightened by his preaching. The pioneer of Methodism not only has to take 



Some of the Master Workmen. 



361 



people as lie finds them, but the gold has to be worked out of the ore. When Mr. 
Smith was forming Edisto Circuit, a gentleman who was not a professor of religion 
invited him to his home. While at his house his host observed that he frequently 
retired into the woods, and on one occasion followed him, when, to his great as- 
tonishment, he found him on his knees engaged in prayer. This struck him un- 
der conviction, and was the cause of his embracing religion soon after. The hap- 
py mixture of dignity, pleasantness, and meekness in his countenance was calcu- 
lated to win the good opinion of such as beheld him. His appearance and his 
manners qualified him for the missionary work, and many of those whom he found 
dead in sin, and their tongues defiled with profane language, he soon rejoiced to 
hear praising God. He, like most of his brethren that were engaged in planting 
Methodism, did not weary his congregations with dry and tedious discourses, but 
their sermons v/ere short and energetic. They enforced their preaching with tlie 
most consistent deportment in the families where they sojourned, always praying 
with them and for them, and speaking to each individual on the great matter of 
salvation. 

Cliarleston, at last, began to show signs that Methodism had 
driven down its stake and intended to hold on. The plain wooden 
structnre on Cumberland street, sixty by forty feet, with galler- 
ies for the colored people, approached completion; and the "Blue 
Meeting" house was ready for the next Conference, the first held 
in the State. It cost about five thousand dollars, exclusive of 
the one thousand five hundred dollar lot on which it stood ; and 
the preachers reported thirty-three white members and fifty-three 
colored at the close of the year. 

On the 12th of March, 1787, Bishop Asbury crossed the Little 
Pedee, and, attended by Hope Hull, came to Georgetown, receiv- 
ing information on the route that Bishop Coke was in Charles- 
ton. He had arrived there from the West Indies, in February; 
had dedicated the new church, and was preaching daily. Such 
was the spirit of hearing excited among the inhabitants that from 
three to four hundred persons regularly attended the morning 
preaching. Asbury says: "We rode nearly fifty miles to get to 
Georgetown. Here the scene was greatly changed — almost the 
whole town came together to hear the word of the Lord. We 
arrived in Charleston and met Dr. Coke. Here we have already 
a spacious house prepared for us, and the congregations are crowd- 
ed and solemn." Conference opened March 22d, and closed the 
29th. For many successive years the Conference met in Charles- 
ton, until other places in the State became strong enough to con- 
test this honor with it. 

Two names appear this year on the Pedee Circuit that are 



362 



History of Methodism. 



memorable — Hope Hull and Jeremiah Mastin. The latter was 
a youBg man in the second year of his ministry. After travel- 
ing the Pedee Circuit one year, he gave three years in succession 
to the Holston country, and located in 1790. Hope Hull was a 
native of Maryland, a classmate in the ministry of Mastin. Their 
popularity was very great, only equaled by their efficiency. When 
they left the Pedee country, Methodism was established there. 
The number of members in this historic circuit was this year 
increased to seven hundred and ninety whites and thirty-three 
colored. They also reported twenty-two churches, the most of 
which had been built during their term of service. 

-Hope Hull, after spending a year in South Carolina, transferred 
to Georgia, where he identified himself with the Church, and was 
felt in the moral and intellectual development of the State. With 
the exception of the year 1792, when he went to assist Jesse Lee 
in ^^evr England, and traveled the Hartford Circuit in Connecticut, 
Hope Hull gave the remainder of his ministerial life to Georgia. 
He located in 1795; established an academy in Wilkes county; 
removed to Athens in 1802 ; was one of the founders of the Geor- 
gia University, and at one time its acting president. He died in 
1818. One of his ablest contemporaries thus describes him: 

Mr. Hull Tvas a fine specimen of what may Le regarded an old-fashioned Amer- 
ican Methodist iDreacher. His oratory yras natural, his action being the unaffected 
expression of his inmost mind. ]S'ot only was there an entire freedom from eyery 
thing like mannerism, but there was a great harmony between his gesticulation and 
the expression of his countenance. He seemed, in some of his finest moods of 
thought, to looh his words into his audience. He was one of nature's orators, who 
neyer spoiled his speaking by scholastic restraints. He wisely cultiyated his mind 
and taste that he might rightly conceiye and speak ; but he left all external ora- 
tory to find its inspiration in his subject, and to warm itself into life in the glow 
of his mind. Hence, in many of his masterly efforts, his words rushed upon his 
au lience like an ayalanche, and multitudes seemed to be carried before him like 
the yielding captiyes of a stormed castle. Christians, entangled in the meshes of 
Satan's net, and ready to abandon their hope of the Diyine mercy, haye been 
cleared of these entanglements under his judicious tracings of the Holy Spirit in 
his manifold operations on the heart and conscience. Powerful emotion could be 
seen as it played in unmistakable outline upon the anxious belieyer's countenance, 
while undergoing one of these spiritual siftings; and when, at last the yerdict was 
written on his heart that he was a child of God according to the rules of eyidence 
laid down, all the conyentional rules about the propriety of praise were broken by 
one Avelling waye of joy.^ 



*Dr. Lovick Pierce, in Sprague's Annals. 



Making the Grand Bound. 



363 



It is the year of grace 1788, and of the organization of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church in America the fourth. Eight 
Annual Conferences are to be held this epochal year — five of 
them for the first time. In order to realize the progress 
made, let us take the first grand round with the General Su- 
perintendent. Conferences have heretofore been confined to 
the old settlements on the Atlantic coast; but in various di- 
rections, north, south, west, and north-west, itinerants have 
gone forth, reconnoitered the frontiers, selected the strategic 
points under their leader's eye, and been reenforced by him 
according to the openings of Providence. It is time to devel- 
op and complete the system of occupation that has been 
forming on the outskirts. Those vital centers of influence 
and government — Conferences — must now be organized, so 
that what has been gained may be held, and aggressive move- 
ments may begin upon the regions beyond. We will start at 
Charleston, which has just entertained its second Conference, and 
keeping company with Bishop Asbury, return to the place of 
setting out. Leaving Charleston, March 17, the Bishop says: 
" Upon the whole, I have had more liberty to speak in Charles- 
ton this visit than I ever had before, and am of opinion that God 
will work here; but our friends are afraid of the cross." Thirty- 
six times did he visit that city after this date. 

The Georgia Conference was to be held in the forks of Broad 
Biver, then in Wilkes, now Elbert, county — probably at the 
home of David Merriwether, who lived there, and who had recent- 
ly joined the Church. In company with Isaac Smith, the Bishop 
made his way up the Saluda to the Broad Biver quarterly-meet- 
ing. To reach it, he says: "We rode till one o'clock on Friday 
the 21st of March ; I believe we have traveled about two hundred 
miles in five days; dear Brother Smith accompanied me. I was 
so unwell that I had but little satisfaction at the quarterly-meet- 
ing; my service was burdensome; but the people were lively." 
Here he met Mason; and here too was John Major, who had come 
to meet him. Consumption was wearing this saintly man into 
his grave; but he was well enough to exhort after Asbury had 
preached. His journal says: "April 1. — We crossed the Savan- 
nah at the Forks, and came where I much wanted to be, in Geor- 
gia. April 2. — I rested; and compiled two sections, which I shall 
recommend to be put into our form of discipline in order to re- 



364 



History of Metltodism. 



moTe from Society, by regular steps, either preachers or people 
that are disorderly." There were ten present — six members of 
the Conference and four probationers. The good Major was not 
able to meet with his brethren; on his way to Conference he sunk, 
and near the time it ended its session he went to rest. 

Richard Ivey, Thomas Humphries, Moses Park, Hope Hull, 
James Conner, Bennett Maxey, Isaac Smith, Matthew Harris, and 
Eeuben Ellis, and probably John Mason from the adjoining Cir- 
cuit in South Carolina, constituted the Conference. Of these, six 
only were to remain in Georgia. Three or four of them were quite 
young; the rest, unmarried men of mature years. They received 
their appointments, and the Bishop left them for Holston Con- 
ference. A noble picket guard, they were to hold the Southern 
frontier. No mean addition to their number was Hope Hull. 
He was appointed to the Washington Circuit. He was called 
the "Broad-ax," because of the power of his ministry. If not 
the father of Georgia Methodism, he was second to no other in 
fostering it.'" 

Emigrants from Virginia and North Carolina had moved be- 
yond the AUeghanies, and settled in the valleys of the Holston 
and Nollichucky and French Broad rivers; they had also vent- 
ured into Kentucky and Middle Tennessee. The Indian dwelt in 
the land. The pioneers were compelled to dwell for safety in 
strongly defended forts, or stations." Among the emigrants, 
there was occasionally a local preacher, hardy, godly, and gifted, 
to preach to such a community, and to form small Societies in 
various localities. 

As early as 1784, the itinerants crossed the mountains. Two 
years later, James Haw and Benjamin Ogden were commis- 
sioned for the wide circuit of "Kentucky." In 1787, Bishop 
Coke, referring to a letter received from Haw, says: "One of 
our elders who last year was sent with a preacher to Kentucky, 
on the banks of the Ohio, wrote me a most enlivening account of 
his district, and earnestly implored some further assistance. ' But 
observe,' added he, ' no man must be appointed to this country that 
is afraid to die. For there is now war with the Indians, who fre- 
quently lurk behind the trees, shoot the travelers, and then scalp 
them ; and we have one Society on the very frontiers of the In- 
dian country.' " 

* Smith's History of Methodism in Georgia. 



Ashurij Crossing the Mountains. 



365 



Eecrossing the Savannah River, and pursuing his route through 
upper South Carolina, Bishop Asbury held his course north- 
westvv'^ard. First and last he crossed the Alleghanies sixty times. 
The perils of the mountains were succeeded by the danger of 
high waters. He seldom went through the country without being 
thoroughly soaked with rain, or having to swim some river or 
creek. Most commonly his rides were from early breakfast, with- 
out intermission, until evening — sometimes nine and ten o'clock 
at night. We give a few items from his journal: 

Nortli Carolina, April 22. — We went on, and reached Brother White's, on 
Johns Kiver, about ten o'clock at night; here I found both the saddles broke, 
both horses foundered, and both their backs sore — so we stopped a few days. 

April 28. — After getting our horses shod, we made a move for Holstein, and 
entered upon the mountains; the first of which I called steel, the second stone, and 
the third iron mountain; they are rough, and difficult to climb. We were spoken 
to on our way by the most awful thunder and lightning, accompanied by heavy 
rain. We crept for shelter into a little dirty house where the filth might have 
been taken from the floor with a spade ; we felt the want of fire, but could get little 
wood to make it, and what we gathered was wet. At the head of Watawga we 
fed, and reached Ward's that night. Coming to the river next day, we hired a 
young man to swim over for the canoe, in which we crossed, wliile our horses swam 
to the other shore. The waters being up, we were compelled to travel an old road 
over the mountains. Night came on^I was ready to faint with a violent head- 
ache — the mountain was steep on both sides. I prayed to the Lord for help ; pres- 
ently a profuse sweat broke out upon me, and my fever entirely subsided. About 
nine o'clock we came to Grear's. After taking a little rest here, we set out next 
morning for Brother Coxe's on Holstein Eiver. I had trouble enough; our route 
lay through the woods, and my pack-horse would neither follow, lead, nor drive, 
so fond was he of stopping to feed on the green herbage. I tried the lead, and he 
pulled back. I tied his head up to prevent his grazing, and he ran back; the 
weather was excessively warm. I was much fatigued, and my temper not a little 
tried. I fed at Smith's, and prayed with the family. Arriving at the river, I was 
at a loss what to do; but providentially, a man came along who conducted me 
across. This has been an awful journey to me. 

In due time he came to Key woods, near Saltville, in South- 
western Virginia, about twenty miles from Abingdon. " Here," 
says the Bishop, " we held Conference three days, and I preached 
each day. The weather was cold; the room without fire and 
otherwise uncomfortable." Here that noble leader, John Tunnell, 
mustered in his picket forces, among whom are Jeremiah Mastin 
— lately a companion of Hope Hull on the Pedee — and Thomas 
Ware, last seen on the Eastern Shore. Ogden and Haw and 
Wilson Lee, from more distant Kentucky, doubtless came through 



366 



History of Methodism. 



the wilderness to attend this first -altramontane Conference. 
The day after adjonrnment Asbury briefly rested at General 
Kussell's, "a most kind family in deed and in truth," and the 
line of travel was resumed (May 15) for Petersburg, where the 
Virginia and North Carolina preachers meet the middle of June. 
The list of quarterly-meetings along the devious way shows that 
the Church is pretty well established. The journal for May 23d 
says: "A damp, rainy day, and I was unwell with a slow fever 
and pain in my head; hovrever, I rode to Smith's Chapel and 
preached; and thence to Brother Harrison's, on Dan Eiver, and 
preached. In the space of one week we have ridden, through 
rough, mountainous tracts of country, about three hundred miles. 
Brother Poythress, Tunnell, and myself have had some serious 
views of things, and mature counsels together." We may imag- 
ine ourselves in that company. The "mature counsels" doubt- 
less took in the transfer of Poythress from North Carolina — 
where he had joined them after grand success as elder — ^to Ken- 
tucky, soon to be admitted into the Union as a State. Poythress 
was to lead there, and advance upon the opening north-western 
territory. The college (Bethel), for which the Kentuckians had 
petitioned, entered into the plans. He observes of the Confer- 
ence at Petersburg, June 13: "The towns-folk were remarkably 
kind and attentive. All things were brought on in love. I 
preached a pastoral sermon under a large arbor near the borders 
of the town with considerable consolation." 

On the last day of June, the Bishop " came to Greenbrier," 
heading for Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Vvliere Whatcoat and Phoe- 
bus, Matson and their fellow-laborers, had made things ready 
for the first Conference of the Bedstone region: 

July 10. — We had to cross the Alleghany Mountain again, at a bad passage. 
Our course lay over mountains and through valleys, and tlie mud and mire were 
such as might scarcely be expected in December. We came to an old, forsaken 
habitation in Tygers Valley; here our horses grazed about, while we boiled our 
meat ; midnight brought us up at Jones's, after riding forty or perhaps fifty miles. 
The old man, our host, was kind enough to wake us up at four o'clock in the morn- 
ing. We journeyed on through devious lonely wilds, where no food might be 
found, except what grcAv in tlie woods, or was carried with us. We met with two 
women who were going to see their friends, and to attend the quarterly-meeting 
at Clarksburg. Near midnight we stopped at A.'s, who hissed his dogs at us; but 
the women were determined to get to quarterly-meeting, so we went in. Our sup- 
per was tea. Brothers Phoebus and Cook took to the woods; old — — gave up his 
l)ed to the women. I lay along the floor on a few deer-skins with the fleas. That 



Tlie Ultramontane Conferences. 



367 



night our poor horses got no corn, and next morning they had to swim across the 
Monongahela; after a twenty miles' ride we came to Clarksburg, and man and 
beast were so outdone that it took us ten hours to accomplish it. There attended 
about seven hundred people, to whom I preached with freedom ; and I believe the 
Lord's power reached the hearts of some. After administering the sacrament, I 
was well satisfied to take my leave. "We rode thirty miles to Father Haymond's, 
after three o'clock, Sunday afternoon, and made it nearly eleven before Ave came 
in; about midnight we went to rest, and rose at five o'clock next morning. My 
mind has been severely tried under the great fatigue endured both by myself and 
my horse. O how glad should I be of a plain, clean plank to lie on, as preferable to 
most of the beds; and where the beds are in a bad state, the floors are worse. The 
gnats are almost as troublesome here as the mosquitoes in the lowlands of the sea- 
board. This country will require much work to make it tolerable. The people 
are, many of them, of the boldest class of adventurers, and with some the decen- 
cies of civilized society are scarcely regarded. The preaching of Antinomians 
poisons them with error in doctrine. Good moralists they are not, and good 
Christians they cannot be, unless they are better taught. 

Tlie Bishop comforted himself with the reflection that we 
"must take the people as we find them, and make them better; " 
and that other axiom of his, " Those who serve the poor mnst also 
suffer with them." 

His journal is very brief. As has been well remarked, he was 
too busy making history to AiTite it: "July 22. — Our Conference 
began at Uniontown, and our counsels were marked by love and 
prudence. We had seven members of Conference, and five pro- 
bationers." The Conference occupied three days. The first ul- 
tramontane ordination, so far as history is written, occurred here. 
James Quinn, then a young preacher, destined to wide and per- 
manent usefulness, witnessed the session, and thus alludes to it: 

Mr. Asbury oflSciated, net in the costume of the laAvn-robed prelate, but as the 
plain presbyter in gown and band, assisted by Richard Whatcoat, elder, in the 
same clerical habit. The person ordained was Michael Leard, of whom it vras 
said tJiat he could repeat nearly the Avhole of the New Testament from memory, 
and also large portions of the Old. The scenes of that day looked well in the 
eyes of the Church people, for not only did the preachers appear in sacerdotal 
robes, but the morning service was read as abridged by ]\Ir. Wesley. The priestly 
robes and prayer-book were, however, soon laid aside at the same time, for I have 
never seen the one nor heard the other since. 

Accompanied by Whatcoat, Bishop Asbury recrossed the mount- 
ains and recruited at Capon and Bath, preaching two Sundays at 
the latter watering-place: "August 17. — I attempted to preach at 
Bath on the lame and the blind; the discourse was very lame; and 
it may be I left my hearers as I found them — blind. I am now 



368 



History of Methodism. 



closely engaged in reading, writing, and prayer — my soul enjoys 
mncli of God. We have great rains, and are obliged to keep close 
house; but we have a little of almost every thing to improve the 
mind — the languages, divinity, grammar, history, and belles-lettres; 
my great desire is to improve in the best things." 

He takes a turn at Hebrew and New Testament Greek, as well 
as at Mosheim and practical divinity, and then resumes the road, 
by the way of endless quarterly-meetings, for Baltimore, where 
Conference meets in September: "Thursday, 4. — I preached at 
Leesburg, and was very warm on ' Thou wdlt arise and favor Zion; ' 
and the people appeared to be somewhat stirred up. To-day I re- 
ceived a letter from Brother Tunnell, informing of the spreading 
of the vfork of God in the West New Biver, and several parts of 
North Carolina. Glory be to God, for his great and glorious pow- 
er! Wednesday, 10. — Our Conference began in Baltimore. I 
chose not to preach while my mind was clogged by business with so 
many persons, and on so many subjects. Sunday, 14. — I felt con- 
siderably moved at our own church in the morning, and in the 
Dutch church in the afternoon; the Spirit of the Lord came 
among the people, and sinners cried aloud for mercy; perhaps 
not less than twenty souls found the Lord from that time until 
the Tuesday following." 

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were spent at Cokesbury 
in examining and arranging the temporal concerns of the college. 
He is now in the land of roads and ferries, and it is easy going. 
The next Sundays have their record in the journal: "September 
21. — I preached with some satisfaction, morning and evening, in 
Philadelphia. On Monday our Conference began, and held until 
Friday, 26." Since Thomas Bankin held a "little Conference" 
there, Philadelphia had not seen one till now. " Sunday, 28. — • 
Preached with some assistance in Elizabethtown. Monday, 29. 
— Bode to New York. Next day (Tuesday, 30) our Conference 
began, and continued until Saturday." This was the first Con- 
ference in New York; so slowly did Methodism extend in that 
part of the United States. North and east of New Bochelle it 
had barely been heard of. It was time to move in that direction. 
Henry Willis, so well known in South Carolina, was made 
elder of New York and Long Island. Freeborn Garrettson was 
transfeired from Maryland, and directed by Bishop Asbury, at 
this session, to take charge of nine young itinerants, and place 



Finishing the Grand Bound. 



369 



them on circuits, from New York City to Lake Champlain. It 
was a grand campaign, and he was the right man to lead it. But 
its greatness gave him much anxiety. He was unacquainted 
with the country, and an entire stranger to its inhabitants. It 
affected his dreams. Pie says: "It seemed as if the whole coun- 
try up the North Kiver, as far as Lake Champlain, east and west, 
was open to my view." He gave his young men instructions 
where to begin, and how to form their circuits. He v^^ould go 
before them to the extreme parts of the field, and, on his return, 
hold their quarterly-meetings. This was the way Methodist min- 
isters in those days exhibited their prowess and confidence in 
success. Six circuits were formed from New Bochelle to Lake 
Champlain; and Garrettson led the way up Hudson River. 
" On his return he found that his itinerants were almost every- 
where prevailing over opposition, and forming Societies." 

The entertainment of an Annual Conference was a great event 
for old John Street Church. That Society was at some expense, 
as the steward's account book shows, to prepare for the occasion. 
"Green baize" and "red marine" draperies were obtained for 
the chapel. About fifty dollars were expended for it. "The 
church was cleaned for the occasion. There were sundry ex- 
penses at the time of the Conference, and they footed the bills," 
besides taking care of the Bishop's two horses, and presenting 
him with a new bridle. 

After setting things in order at this northern outpost, Asbury 
turned and preached his way back through New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, Maryland, Yirginia, and North Carolina. His 
journal, full of observations and events, has this entry on Febru- 
ary 13, 1789: "Bode forty-five miles to Wappataw; and next day 
arrived in Charleston in sweet peace of soul." A vv^eek later: "I 
was closely employed in making my plan, and arranging the pa- 
pers for Conference. I made out a register of all the preachers 
on the continent who bore the name of Methodists." The sum- 
ming up of the year gives : Preachers one hundred and sixty-six, 
white members thirty thousand eight hundred and nine, colored 
members six thousand five hundred and forty-five. Among the 
dead of this year, besides John Major, is Woolman Hickson, who 
accompanied Asbury on his first coming to South Carolina. Pie 
did faithful work in Georgetown; was transferred to Brooklyn, 
and had the honor of founding Methodism in that city. 

24 



370 



History of Methodism. 



Asbury's journal makes frequent and affectionate mention of 
"Rembert Hall. There was need of sucli a place for him. One of 
his successors, Bishop Wightman, who, as a circuit preacher there, 
knew the place and people well, thus describes it: "The propri- 
etor of this estate, James Eembert, Esq., was a Methodist gentle- 
man, in Sumter District, of large property, who was strongly 
attached to Asbury. There was a room in his mansion that Avas 
appro^Driated to the Bishop's use. Here he commonly spent a 
week during his annual visitation to South Carolina. It was a 
sweet haven, where the weather-beaten sailor found quiet waters, 
and bright skies, and a season of repose. Here he brought up 
his journal, wrote his letters, and lectured of an evening to the 
family and visitors and crowds of seryants. Mrs. Eembert was 
a lady of the kindest heart; she not only had the Bishop's apart- 
ment always ready and commodiously furnished, but every year 
her seamstress made up for him a full supply of linen, which, 
neatly ironed, awaited the arrival of the Bishop. Eembert Hall, 
in my time on the Sumter Circuit (1831), was occupied by Caleb 
Eembert, Esq., his honored father and mother having long before 
gone to heaven." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



The Sunday Service — Cokesbiiry College — Slavery and Emancipation — A New 
Term of Communion Proposed — How Eeceived — West India Missions — Incon- 
sistent and Hurtful Legislation — What Methodism has Done for the Negro. 

AFTEK the Christmas Conference, the itinerants dispersed 
to resume their labors with a confidence and hopefuhiess 
such as they had never known before. Equipped for their work, 
they saw " the whole opening continent, illuminated with the glad- 
ness of a new era of freedom and prosperity, before them." Bish- 
op Coke proceeded to Philadelphia and New York, to superin- 
tend the publication of his ordination-sermon and of the Min- 
utes of the Conference. Though no journal of its doings, in the 
usual form, was published, its enactments wera embodied in a 
little volume styled a "Form of Discipline for the Ministers, 
Preachers, and other Members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in America." 

The "Sunday Service" prepared and printed by Wesley was 
used, but not uniformly. Jesse Lee who, in Cromwell's time 
would have been a Puritan, says: "At this time the prayer-book, 
as revised by Mr. Wesley, T/as introduced among us; and in the 
large towns, and in some country - places, our preachers read 
prayers on the Lord's-day; and in some cases the preachers read 
part of the morning service on AYednesdays and Fridays. But 
some of the preachers, who had been long accustomed to pray 
extempore, were unwilling to adopt this new plan. Being fully 
satisfied that they could pray better and with more devotion 
while their eyes were shut than they could with their eyes open. 
After a few years the prayer-book was laid aside, and has never 
been used since in public w^orship." * 

* The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in ] 86G 
(New Orleans), ordered the Sunday Service reprinted "for any congregation that 
may choose to use it." The reprint was made at the Publishing House (Nashville, 
1867; 12mo, 125 pages), under the editorship of Eev. T. O. Summers, D.D., with 
great care, from the second edition that was printed on Wesley's press in 1786. 
It has not had a large demand. The General Conference of 1784, in the language 
of Whatcoat, "agreed to form a Methodist Episcopal Churcli, in which the Lit- 
urgv (as presented by the Eev. John Wesley) should be read." 

(371) 



372 Hisfori/ of Methodism. 



The merits of this abridgment have been generally acknowl- 
edged. According to one of the best judges, " it includes the yery 
quintessence of the English Liturgy in the best possible form." 
Wesley says in his preface that the principal alterations of the 
Common Prayer of the Church of England, are these: 

"1. Most of the holy days (so called) are omitted, as at pres- 
ent answering no valuable end. 

"2. The service of the Lord's-day, the length of which has 
been complained of, is considerably shortened. 

" 3. Some sentences in the office of baptism and for the burial 
of the dead are omitted. 

"4. And many Psalms left out, and many parts of the others, 
as being highly improper for the mouths of a Christian congre- 
gation." 

Concerning another usage our Virginia historian, of puritanic 
leanings, testifies that it was of limited and brief observance 
among Methodists: "The superintendents and some of the eld- 
ers introduced the custom of wearing gowns and bands, but 
it was opposed by many of the preachers, as well as private 
members, who looked upon it as needless and superfluous. Hav- 
ing made a stand against it, after a few years it was given up, 
and has never been introduced among us since." 

Coke spent five months in the United States, after the Church 
w^as organized, laboring incessantly. At the site he "gave or- 
ders that the materials for the erection of the college should 
be procured forthwith ; " but he left for Europe before prep- 
arations were completed to lay the corner-stone. On Sunday, 
5th of June, 1785, Asbury laid, with solemn forms, the corner- 
stone of Cokesbury College, at Abingdon, Maryland. So early 
as 1780, John Dickins arranged with him, as has already been 
recorded, the plan of a Methodist academic institution. At his 
first interview with Coke, at Barratt's Chapel, Asbury submitted 
the proposition and it was approved. The Christmas Conference 
directed that it should be immediately attempted as a collegiate 
establishment. Nearly five thousand dollars was quickly raised 
for the purpose. The site, about twenty-five miles from Balti- 
more, was one of the most commanding in the State; magnificent 
views extend in some directions twenty, in others fifty miles: 
The landscapes of the Susquehanna Yalley lie on either side of 
the river, and the Chesapeake Bay stretches away in the distance. 



Cokeshurij College. 



373 



"Attired in his long silk gown," says his biographer, "and with 
his flowing bands, the pioneer Bishop of America took his posi- 
tion on the Avails of the college, and announced for his text the fol- 
lowing: ' The sayings of old which we have heard and known, and 
our fathers have told ns. We will not hide them from their chil- 
dren, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, 
and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.' " 

John Dickins published a description of the building in 1789 : 
" The college is one hundred and eight feet in length from east 
to west, and forty feet in breadth from north to south, and stands 
on the summit and center of six acres of land, with an equal de- 
scent and proportion of ground on each side." At this time it 
had thirty students within its unfinished walls. A preparatory 
school of fifteen students had been opened under its roof by a 
Quaker, an excellent teacher. Abingdon became a favorite resort 
for families desiring the advantages of a good school. It accom- 
modated the Conference in 1786; it has happened, indeed, that 
the Baltimore Conference, beginning its session in the city, ad- 
journed to Cokesbury College for the conclusion of its delibera- 
tions; and this, more than once. 

Asbury solicited funds to build and furnish and carry on this 
new Kingswood. The Conference collections for it were respect- 
able, year after year. Great was the burden and care; and now 
and then results seemed ready to repay them. Stating the ob- 
ject and expectations of the institution, it was said: "It will be 
expected that all our friends who send their children to the col- 
lege will, if they be able, pay a moderate sum for their educa- 
tion and board; the rest will be taught and boarded, and, if our 
finances will allow of it, clothed gratis. The institution is also in- 
tended for the benefit of our young men who are called to preach, 
that they may receive a measure of that improvement which is 
highly expedient as a preparative for public service. The col- 
lege will be under the presidentship of the superintendents of our 
Church for the time being, and is to be supported by yearly col- 
lections throughout our circuits, and any endowments which our 
friends may think proper to give and bequeath." 

During its ten years' history, Cokesbury College acquired a 
respectable fame. It was a favorite resort of the itinerants, and 
creditable to the Church. It was destroyed by fire, December 
7, 1795. Asbury was in Charleston, South Carolina, when he 



374 



History of Methodism. 



received the news; lie wrote in liis journal: "We have now a 
second and confirmed account that Cokesbury College is con- 
sumed to ashes, a sacrifice of £10,000 in about ten years. If any 
man should give me X10,000 per year to do and suffer again what 
I have done for that house, I would not do it. The Lord called 
not Mr. AVhitefield nor the Methodists to build colleges. I 
wished only for schools —Dr. Coke wanted a college. I feel dis- 
tressed at the loss of the library." 

The impression made on the English preachers by their Amer- 
ican brethren is worthy of notice. When Wliatcoat and Yasey 
heard some of them, at the General Conference, they were sur- 
prised, and declared that they had not heard their equal in the 
British Connection, except Wesley and Fletcher. 

Nelson Eeed's vv ord-encounter with ^'the little Doctor," atone 
of the early Baltimore Conferences, is thus told by an old mem- 
ber of the body: 

Kelson Eeed commanded great attention as a preacher. He had a strong, 
round, full but not very melodious voice; and I presume he never found himself 
in any audience where it was not easy for him to make himself heard to the 
extreme limit. His sermons were generally argumentative and thoroughly 
wrought, and seemed to require not much of passion in the delivery. He was 
deeply versed in the science of theology, having given to it a large amount of 
study, and from his rich stores of Biblical and theological knowledge he drew 
largely in every sermon that he preached. He used to be called by a homely 
nickname, which, however, in that part of the country indicated the high estima- 
tion in which he was held; it was nothing more nor less than the "bacon-and- 
greens preacher," by which it was intended to be understood that his preaching 
was of the most substantial and nourishing character. I remember to have heard 
of an incident in the earlier history of Mr. Eeed that may serve to illustrate his 
remarkable fearlessness and energy. It occurred in the Conference which was 
then holding its session in Baltimore. Dr. Coke, one of the superintendents of 
the Church, was present; and one of the striking features of his character Avas that 
he was impatient of contradiction, and not wholly insensible to his own personal 
importance. He had on this occasion introduced some proposition in the General 
Conference, which seemed to some of the preachers a little dictatorial; and one of 
them, an Irishman, by the name of Matthews, who had been converted in his na- 
tive country from Komanism, and had fled to this country from an apprehension 
that his life was in danger at home, sprung to his feet, and cried out, "Popery, 
popery, popery!" Dr. Coke rebuked the impulsive rudeness of Matthews, when 
he replied in his Irish manner, " Och ! " and sat down. AYhile the Conference was 
now in a state of great suspense and agitation. Dr. Coke seized the paper contain- 
ing his own resolution, and, tearing it up, not in the most moderate manner, looked 
round upon the preachers, and said, *'Do you think yourselves equal to me?" 
Nelson Eeed instantly rose, and turning to Bishop Asbury, who Avas also present. 



Eides on Slavery and Emancipation. 375 



said: "Dr. Coke has asked whether we think ourselves equal to him; I answer, 
Yes, we do think ourselves equal to him, notwithstanding he was educated at Ox- 
ford, and has been honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws; and more than 
that, w^e think ourselves equal to Dr. Coke's king." The Doctor now rose, with 
his passion entirely cooled off, and said, very blandly, "He is hard upon me." 
Bishop Asbury replied, "I told you that our preachers are not blockheads." The 
Doctor then asked pardon of the Conference for his abrupt and impulsive demon- 
stration, and thus the matter ended. 

Tlie General Rules as drawn up by tlie Wesleys were adopted 
without alteration by the first Societies in America. However, 
they were not published in any edition of the "Discipline" until 
1789, when this clause of prohibition appears for the first time : 
"The buying or selling the bodies and souls of men, women, or 
children, with an intention to enslave them." By whom or how 
this clause was introduced, history does not tell. It clearly 
refers to the African slave-trade, which the laws of the Repub- 
lic repressed, as piracy, from the year 1808. 

The first allusion to emancipation occurs in an informal Confer- 
ence called to meet in Baltimore 1780; in anticipation of the reg- 
ular session which met in Virginia, and vdiich had been com- 
mitted to the "ordinances." — "Question: Ought not this Con- 
ference to require those traveling preachers who hold slaves 
to give promises to set them free? Answer: Yes." The lan- 
guage is emphatic, but advisory, as to the membership: "We 
pass our disapprobation on all our friends who keep slaves, 
and advise their freedom." * Though the Baltimore section rep- 
resented a minority of the traveling preachers, the anti-slavery 
element had strong representatives in the other section, which 
met at Manakintown, notably — James O'Kelley; and doubtless 
this deliverance of the minority would have been agreeable to a 
majority of the united body. The sentiment of freedom for all 
men, at that time, prevailed extensively with Americans; they 
had just come out of a fight for freedom. Wesleyan preachers 
especially shared in the anti-slavery feeling; and not a few cases 
of emancipation occurred as they pressed their views upon the 
consciences of Christian masters who were accustomed to regard 
them as spiritual guides. 

* Methodism thus early recorded its protest against negro slavery, anticipating 
its abolition in Massachusetts by three years, in Ehode Island and Connecticut 
by four years. (Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church.) 

At the time, Methodism was hardly known by name in those States. Climatic 
and commercial and social reasons led to their abolition of negro slavery. 



376 



Hisfonj of Methodism. 



Others took the ground of Pauline casuistry: "Neither if we 
emancipate, are we the better; neither if we emancipate not, are 
we the A orr e." They saw the question of slavery not in an ab- 
stract but in a concrete form. It was a part of social life, as it had 
come down to them. It was wrought into domestic and industrial 
institutions, and was recognized and regulated by civil lavv\ If 
they could have formed a community or State on theory, slavery 
would not have entered into it; it was an evil which they would 
have i:recluded by choice and on policy. But for a hundred and 
fifty years the ships of Bristol and Liverpool and Boston had 
been unloading captive slaves upon the shores of what is nov/ 
the United States; and the unquestioned usages of Christian 
kings and governments, of Churches and ministers and peoiDle, 
had wrought them into the fabric of the community. In the 
language of the historian Bancroft, the institution had been " riv- 
eted by the policy of England, without regard to the interests or 
the wishes of the colony." 

AYhile there was abhorrence of the cruel cupidity that incited 
clannish wars on the Dark Continent, for the purpose of captur- 
ing barbarians and slaves there, to transport them into slaver}^ 
here, the question remained for Christian men at the close of the 
eighteenth century: "What is the best thing now to be done?" 
To return the negroes to their native land required more shijos 
than all Christian nations owned — leaving out of view a repeti- 
tion of the modified horrors of the middle passage. Few would 
assert that they were prepared for self-support and self-govern- 
ment, and fewer still that half-reclaimed pagans could be bene- 
fited by being remanded into paganism. There was no provision 
for colonizing them on the American continent, and no proposi- 
tion to enfranchise them as citizens. An impassable gulf stood 
in the way of a general amalgamation. Here and there a master 
might impatiently or conscientiously wash his hands of the great 
evil, and put an end to all questionings, so far as he was con- 
cerned, by an act of emancipation; but what of a universal law 
and movement in that direction? 

A few well-meaning ecclesiastics, mostly without homes, with- 
out property, and without families, think a resolution of Confer- 
ence or a clause in the Discipline can meet the case! No doubt 
they were honest; and no doubt their advice was declined 
by many who were equally honest; with this disadvantage in 



New Terms of Communion Pro])osed. 



377 



the case of the latter — they were more exposed to the suspi- 
cion, and not nnfrequently to the charge, of making up their 
judgment under the bias of self-interest. When Coke, immedi- 
ately after the adjournment of Conference, was pressing its rash 
rules on emancipation, he met the pious Jarratt, who ventured to 
question the wisdom of the ecclesiastical action on the subject. 
" The secret is," says Coke, that " he has twenty-four slaves of his 
own; I am afraid he will do infinite hurt by his opposition to 
our rules." If slave-holding be a sin, condemned by the Bible, 
then might emancipation be not only adcised but required by the 
Church, of all preachers and private members as well. But 
many Christians never could be convinced of this, with the Bi- 
ble before them; hence the endless troubles and disputes that 
worried and divided the Church in America. A slave-holding 
local preacher, discipled by Wesley himself, established the first 
Methodist Society in the Western Hemisphere.* A better or- 
dered Christian family was not to be found on the continent than 
at Perry Hall, in wdiich it is likely the rules on emancipation 
were prepared for the approaching Conference by four or five 
worthy Englishmen, three-fourths of whom had not been in the 
United States quite two months. All Methodist history, all Bi- 
ble history as well, demonstrates that Christian character of the 
finest and fullest type may be developed in Christian masters. 

The traveling preachers and private members having been leg- 
islated for, the local preachers are reached at the regular Con- 
ference held in May, 1784. — " Question : What shall we do with 
our local preachers who will not emancipate their slaves in the 
States where the laws admit it ? Answer : Try those in Virginia 
another year, and suspend the preachers in Maryland, Delaware, 
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey." 

The extraordinary enactments of the Christmas Conference 
on this perplexing subject are here presented in full: 

Question: What methods can we take to extirpate slavery? 

Answer : We are deeply conscious of the impropriety of making new terms of 
communion for a religious society already established, excepting on the most press- 
ing occasion ; and such we esteem the practice of holding our fellow-creatures in 
slavery. We view it as contrary to the golden law of God on which hang all the 

*The true epoch of Metliodism in the Western Hemisphere is 1760, when Gilbert formed 
the firstSociety at Antigua. Had its centenary been observed, all Methodists of the New World 
could have shared in its celebration, an advantage which the epoch of the Church, in neither 
the North American British provinces nor in the United States, admits. (Stevens's History 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. II., page 379.) 



378 



History of Methodism. 



law and the prophets, and the inalienable rights of mankind, as well as every prin- 
ciple of the Eevolution, to hold in the deepest debasement, in a more abject slav- 
ery than is perhaps to be found in any part of the world except America, so many 
souls that are all cajDable of the image of God. 

We therefore think it our most bounden duty to take immediately some effect- 
ual method to extirpate this abomination from among us; and for that purpose 
we add the folloAving to the rules of our Society, viz, : 

1. Every member of our Society who has slaves in his possession shall, within 
twelve months after notice given to him by the assistant (which notice the assist- 
ants are required immediately, and without any delay, to give in their respective 
circuits), legally execute and record an instrument whereby he emancipates and sets 
free every slave in his possession who is between the ages of forty and forty-five 
immediately, or at farthest when they arrive at the age of forty-five ; and every 
slave who is between the ages of twenty-five and forty immediately, or at farthest 
at the expiration of five years from the date of said instrument ; and every slave 
who is between the ages of tAventy and twenty-five immediately, or at farthest 
when they arrive at the age of thirty; and every slave under the age of twenty as 
soon as they arrive at the age of twenty-five at farthest ; and every infant born in slav- 
ery after the above-mentioned rules are complied with immediately on its birth. 

2. Every assistant shall keep a journal, in which he shall regularly minute 
down the names and ages of all the slaves belonging to all the masters in his re- 
spective circuit, and also the date of every instrument executed and recorded for 
the manumission of the slaves, with the name of the court, book, and folio in 
which the said instruments resi^ectively shall have been recorded; which journal 
shall be handed down in each circuit to the succeeding assistants [pastors]. 

3. In consideration that these rules form a new term of communion, every per- 
son concerned who will not comply with them shall have liberty quietly to with- 
draw himself from our Society within the twelve months succeeding the notice 
given as aforesaid; otherwise the assistant shall exclude him in the Society. 

4. Xo person so voluntarily withdrawn, or so excluded, shall ever partake of 
the Supper of the Lord with the Methodists, till he comi^lies with the above re- 
quisitions. 

5. Xo person holding slaves shall, in future, be admitted into Society or to the 
Lord's Supper, till he previously complies with these rules concerning slavery. 

jy; B. — These rules are to afiect the members of our Society no farther than as 
they are consistent with the laws of the States in whicli they reside. And respect- 
ing our brethren in Virginia that are concerned, and after due consideration of 
their peculiar circumstances, we allow them two years from the notice given, to 
consider the expedience of compliance or non-compliance Avith these rules. 

How different are these rules from those with which the 
apostles of our Lord were sent forth to convert the Avorld! It 
has been well remarked: "When Paul and Barnabas set out on 
their missionary tour through slave-holding Greece, they went 
unhampered with such instructions about slavery ; but the chil- 
dren were wiser than the fathers, and it required the experience 
of a few sad years to teach Asbury and his associates that both 



Coke and the Emancipation Question. 379 



master and slave would perish if they persisted in their course." 
As to the method others pursued there is no record, but Coke im- 
proved the opportunity of large Virginia audiences to expound 
and defend the new rules and the new terms of membership, 
unknown alike to Methodism and the New Testament. "The 
quarterly-meetings on this continent," he Avrites "are much at- 
tended. The brethren for twenty miles around, and sometimes 
for thirty or forty, meet together. The meeting always lasts two 
days. All the traveling preachers in the circuit are present, and 
they, with perhaps a local preacher or two, give the people a ser- 
mon one after another, besides the love-feast, and now the sac- 
rament. On Saturday, April 9th, I set off with the friends 
to Brother Martin's, in whose barn I preached that day. The 
next day I administered the sacrament to a large com^Dany, and 
preached, and after me the two traveling preachers. There were 
thirty strangers, I think, in Brother Martin's house only, which 
obliged us to lie three in a bed. I had now for the first time a 
very little persecution. The testimony I bore in this place 
against slave-holding provoked many of the unawakened to retire 
out of the barn, and combine together to flog me (so they ex- 
pressed it) as soon as I came out." 

He passed on to North Carolina to meet Asbury, coming up 
from Charleston, at the Annual Conference at Green Hill's. 
When he reached North Carolina, finding that the laws of the 
State even then forbade emancipation, he exercised a prudence 
unusual with him, and preached simply the gospel; but the Con- 
ference, through his influence, passed the most decided resolu- 
tions on the subject, and insisted that the Church should take 
earnest measures to secure immediate emancipation. These 
resolutions accomplished nothing except to throw more serious 
obstacles in the way of the already embarrassed preachers. 

As soon as the session was over, Coke returned into Yirginia. 
" On Sunday, May 1," he says, " about twenty preachers met Mr. 
Asbury and me at Brother Mason's. One night we all slept at 
the same house, but it was so inconvenient to some of the preach- 
ers that they afterward divided themselves through the neigh- 
boring plantations, by which we lost about an hour in the morn- 
ings. A great many principal friends met us here to insist on a 
repeal of the slave rules; but when they found that we had 
thoughts of withdrawing ourselves entirely from the circuit, on 



380 



Histori/ of Methodism. 



account of the violent spirit of some leading men, they drew in 
their horns, and sent us a very humble letter, entreating that 
preachers might be appointed." 

Asbury's note on the same occasion is brief: "Eode to W. Ma- 
son's, where we are to meet in Conference. I found the minds 
of the people greatly agitated with our rules against slavery and 
a proposed petition to the General Assembly for the emancipa- 
tion of the blacks. Colonel and Doctor Coke disputed on 

the subject, and the Colonel used some threats; next day. Broth- 
er O'Kelley let fly at them, and they were made angry enough; 
we, however, came off with whole bones." 

It is possible that what Coke, in his impetuous mood, mistook 
for a drawing in of their horns, on the part of the many prin- 
cipal members, meant something else. They saw that he was not 
to be reasoned with, and took other measures for saving the 
Church from ruin. June 1st, the last and most influential Con- 
ference for the year met at Baltimore. That was the place to 
make a final stand — where six months before the "slave rules" 
had been adopted. The preachers who had been abroad among 
the Societies and people then brought in a report of the damag- 
ing effect and well-ascertained impracticability of the said rules; 
and Coke himself, in the chair, made a virtue of necessity by 
conceding to their final repeal. Accordingly, in the Annual 
Minutes for 1785 the following notice was inserted: "It is rec- 
ommended to all our brethren to suspend the execution of the 
minute on slavery till the deliberations of a future Conference; 
and that an equal space of time be allowed all our members for 
consideration, when the minute shall be put in force." 

'-^"Now was their sublime hour, and the critical hour of the nation, in resj^ect to 
this question. But they failed, and history must not evade the fact. They were 
persecuted and threatened, and sometimes mobbed; but many of their people, 
many slave-holders, sustained them. Emancipations were becoming frequent. 
The leading statesmen of the nation were with them in opinion. But Asbury and 
Coke both shrunk before the unavoidable difficulties of the question. It was nat- 
ural that, in. after years, they should believe it had been expedient to compromise 
with their opponents. (Stevens's History of the Methodist Episcopal Church.) 

The distinguished author viewed this abolition crisis from an extremely Northern 
stand-point. Those who contemplate it from almost any other point of view are 
satisfied that, had the policy so promptly abandoned been persisted in, there would 
have beeen no Methodism in the Southern States. At that time there was very 
little anywhere else in America. And so, Methodism would have been abol- 
ished in the United States as the first result of abolitionism. 



Ashurij Alone in the Episcopacy. 



381 



Asbury's note on that occasion is this: "Jiine 1. — Our Confer- 
ence began. I was unwell during the session; a blister running, 
applied for a pain in my breast. On Thursday the Doctor took 
his leave of America for this visit. We parted with heavy hearts. 
On Friday we rested from our labors and had a love-feast." 

Coke sailed out of the harbor " with feelings sadder than he 
had for years experienced in taking leave of his ministerial breth- 
ren," and was absent two years. 

Methodism, after this instructive experience of being wise 
above what is written, attended, for awhile without distraction, 
to her heavenly calling and greatly prospered; so that in the 
fourth year after the episcopal organization her ministry and 
membership were doubled, and the territory occupied was more 
than quadrupled. "The vexed question" was let alone; and in 
the Annual Minutes for 1787 the following timely and scriptural 
directions are found. AYell would it have been for the Church 
and the country, and especially for the colored people, if all 
subsequent Conference action had been of the same nature: 

Wliat directions shall we give for the iDromotion of the spiritual welfare of the 
colored people? 

We conjure all our ministers and preachers, by the love of God, and the salva- 
tion of souls, and do require them, by all the authority that is invested in us, to 
leave nothing undone for the spiritual benefit and salvation of them, within their 
respective circuits or districts; and for this purpose to embrace every opportunity 
of inquiring into the state of their souls, and to unite in Society those who appear 
to have a real desire of fleeing from the wrath to come ; to meet such in class, and 
to exercise the whole Methodist discipline among them. 

Asbury was now left alone in the episcopal care. That an En- 
glishman should become so thoroughly Americanized is not a 
common thing. With strange impressions as he approached the 
shores of the New World, he exclaimed, " This is the land for 
me! " At the close of the war, writing to his old friend and fel- 
low-laborer, George Shadford, he used this language: 

I travel four thousand miles in a year, all weathers, among rich and poor, Dutch 
and English. O my dear Shadford, it would take a month to write out and speak 
what I want you to know. The most momentous is my constant communion with 
God as my God ; my glorious victory over the world and the devil. I am contin- 
ually with God. I preach frequently, and with more enlargement of heart than 
ever. O America, America ! it certainly will be the glory of the world for relig- 
ion. I have loved and do love America. Your old national pride, as a people, has got 
a blow. You must abate a little. O let us haste in peace and holiness to the king- 



382 



History of Methodism. 



dom of peace and love, "svliere we shall know, love, and enjoy God and each other, 
and all the differences in Church and State, and among private Christians, will be 
done aAvay. 

Asbury's bearing toward his senior colleague is one of tlie most 
interesting exhibitions of his character. He saAv the weak points 
of Coke, and did what he could, quietly and delicately, to lessen 
the consequence of his blunders; but he also appreciated his 
piety, and paid respectful tribute to his learning and true great- 
ness. We'are reminded of the brave Braddock, who, when push- 
ing his way into the wilderness, was modestly expostulated with 
by one Colonel George Washington, who knew the country and 
was practically acquainted with the business in hand. " What! " 
was the disdainful reply, " shall an American buckskin teach a 
British general how to fight ? " The haughty commander was soon 
borne back on a litter, and his name forever associated with defeat. 

Coke's missionary character was strongly developed, if not de- 
termined, by his American experience. He came in view of, and 
almost in contact with, Nova Scotia at the Christmas Conference; 
and during its session made the first collection on our shores for 
foreign missions, in behalf of that field. He continued his per- 
sonal solicitations for its support and enlargement, after arriving 
in Europe, and published an "Address to the Pious and Benevo- 
lent," proposing an annual subscription for the support of mis- 
sionaries, which is said to have been the first document of the 
kind. He also induced Wesley to send with him to that distant 
field three preachers — Hammet, Waxrener, and Clark — as a reen- 
f or cement to Garrettson and his fellow-laborers. 

In September, 1786, he embarked with them for Nova Scotia. 
By storms the ship was driven to the West Indies. The furious 
captain, having never encountered such perils on the deep, con- 
cluded that there was a Jonah on board, and threw Coke's papers 
and books overboard and was on the point of sending him after 
them. Providentially they reached Antigua, where Gilbert and 
Baxter had begun a good work, which was waiting for help. On 
Christmas-day the missionaries landed at St. Johns, and walking 
into the town met Baxter on his way to the chapel. Other isl- 
ands were visited, and the missionaries distributed among them; 
and thus began the Wesleyan missions in the West Indies, re- 
deeming the slaves from pagan ignorance, and numbering at a 
later day over fifty thousand communicants, with all the ajipoint- 



Coke and the West India Mission. 



383 



ments of districts, circuits, and chapels, and well-appointed and 
well-supported religious teachers. A very harsh type of bondage 
prevailed in most of the islands. Preachers were often impris- 
oned, chapels closed, and negroes punished with severity for their 
religious profession and attendance ; but the cause was God's, and 
it prevailed — not without martyrs. This mission-field became 
Coke's half-way house in his visitations to the American Church; 
and by his exertions and liberality it was not only reenforced and 
superintended, but his energetic influence with the home govern- 
ment more than once secured relaxations from the severity of 
the local laws. Charleston was the nearest port, where he arrived 
in time to join Asbury in the first South Carolina Conference of 
1787, and in other sessions afterward. 

It was well for the tranquillity of the American Church that Coke 
had this West India mission thrust upon him. It taught him a 
prudence in his bearing toward civil institutions, which he had. 
not before shown, where slavery was concerned. If he had en- 
tertained public assemblies in Antigua with the same utterances 
on that subject that were made in Yirginia, he would have de- 
stroyed the Societies gathered by Gilbert twenty years before. 
If the emancipation statute enacted at Baltimore had been ]3ro- 
posed in Jamaica, the door to his missionaries would have been 
fast closed, and that noble chapter of negro salvation that adorns 
the history of Wesleyan Methodism would never have been written. 
In his transient visits of a few months to this continent, and pass- 
ing rapidly from place to place, it was cheap and easy for him to 
indulge in quixotic schemes of philanthropy, and to stir up oppo- 
sition — leaving Asbury and his patient and suffering colaborers 
to meet the consequences, and by their wise conservatism to save 
the imperiled cause; but when Coke came personally and prac- 
tically face to face Avitli the problem involved, and must choose 
between salvation and emancipation, he took the better course; for 
where his pragmatic temper did not mislead him, he was a wise 
man, and none could doubt his being a pious one. 

About the year 1830, Richard Watson wrote the " Instructions 
to the Wesleyan Missionaries " — an official document worthy of 
the broad-minded author of the "Institutes" and of the Church 
whose missions are enlightening the world. Wise and holy men 
have characterized the "Instructions" as "apostolical." In all 
controversies — sectional, political, and ecclesiastical — for these 



384 



History of Methodism. 



hundred years, the si:)irit and practice of these "Instructions" 
have governed that portion of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in America who have really done any thing to promote the moral 
and religious welfare of negro slaves. We quote from this offi- 
cial document; it is worthy of careful perusal: 

Those of you who are appointed to the West India colonies — ^being placed in 
stations of considerable delicacy, and which require from the state of society there 
a peculiar circumspection and prudence on the one hand, and zeal, diligence, and 
patient perseverance on the other — are required to attend the following directions, 
as especially applicable to your mission there: 

Your particular designation is to endeavor the religious instruction and con- 
version of the ignorant, pagan, and neglected black and colored population of 
the island or station to which you may be appointed, and of all others who may 
be willing to hear you. 

Where Societies are already formed, you are required to watch over them with 
the fidelity of those who must give up their account to Him who hath purchased 
them with his blood, and in whose providence they are placed under your care. 
Your labors must be constantly directed to improve them in the knowedge of 
Christianity, and to enforce upon them the experience and practice of its doctrines 
and duties, without intermingling doubtful controversies in your administrations, 
being mainly anxious that those over whom you have pastoral care should clearly 
understand the principal doctrines of the Scriptures, feel their renovating influ- 
ence upon their hearts, and become ''holy in all manner of conversation and god- 
liness." 

It is enforced upon you that you continue no person as a member of your Soci- 
eties whose "conversation is not as becometh the gospel of Christ." That any 
member of Society who may relapse into his former habits, and become a polyga- 
mist, or an adulterer, who shall be idle and disorderly, disobedient to his owner 
(if a slave), who shall steal, or be in any other Avay immoral or irreligious, shall 
be put away, after due admonition, and proper attempts to reclaim him from the 
"error of his way." 

Before you receive any person into Society, you shall be satisfied of his desire 
to become acquainted with the religion of Christ, and to obey it; and if he has 
not previously been under Christian instruction, nor baptized, you are, before his 
admission as a member, diligently to teach him the Christian faith, and the obli- 
gations wliich he takes upon himself by baptism. 

Y^ou are to consider the children of the negroes and colored people of your So- 
cieties and congregations as a part of your charge; and it is recommended to you, 
wherever it is practicable and prudent, to establish Sunday or other schools for 
their instruction. 

As in the colonies in which you are called to labor a great proportion of the 
inhabitants are in a state of slavery, the committee most strongly call to your 
recollection what was so fully stated to you when you were accepted as a mission- 
ary to the West Indies — that your only business is to promote the moral and relig- 
ious improvement of the slaves to whom you may have access, without in the least 
degree, in public or private, interfering with their civil condition. On all persons, 
in the state of slaves, you are diligently and implicitly to enforce the same exhor- 



English Instructions for Slave-missions. 



385 



tations which the apostles of our Lord administered to the slaves of ancient na- 
tions, when by their ministry they embraced Christianity: "Servants, be obedient 
to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in 
singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but 
as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good-will 
doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men; knowing that whatsoever good 
thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond 
or free." (Eph. vi, 5-8.) "Servants, obey in all things your masters according 
to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fear- 
ing God; and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 
knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance ; for ye 
serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which 
he hath done; and there is no respect of persons." (Col. iii. 22-25.) 

You are directed to avail yourselves of every opportunity to extend your la- 
bors among the slaves of the islands where yon may be stationed; but you are in 
no case to visit the slaves of any plantation without the permission of the owner 
or manager; nor are the times which you may appoint for their religious services 
to interfere with their owners' employ ; nor are you to sufler any protracted meet- 
ings in the evening, not even at negro burials, on any account whatever. In all 
these cases you are to meet even unreasonable prejudices, and attempt to disarm 
suspicions, however groundless, so far as you can do it consistently with your du- 
ties as faithful and laborious ministers of the gospel. 

As many of the negroes live in a state of polygamy, or in a promiscuous inter- 
course of the sexes, your particular exertions are to be directed to the discounte- 
nancing f\nd correcting of these vices, by pointing out their evil, both in public 
and in private, and by maintaining the strictest discipline in the Societies. 

The [missionary] committee caution you against engaging in any of the civil 
disputes or local politics of the colony to which you may be appointed, either ver- 
bally or by correspondence with any persons at home or in the colonies. The 
whole period of your temporary residence in the West Indies is to be filled up 
with the proper work of your mission. 

The sound Christian principles of this document governed the 
united Methodism of America down to 1844, maugre local fac- 
tions and temporary exceptions. Thus access was had alike to 
the master and the slave, by a ministry bearing with them " the 
fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ." And thus, 
after the jurisdictional division of that date, the section of Amer- 
ican Methodism which continued to adhere to these scriptural 
principles was enabled, under God, to present phenomenal re- 
sults in the moral and religious culture of " the servile progeny 
of Ham." Not only were the slaves, who labored and worshiped 
in contact with the white population, educated and elevated and 
evangelized to a degree far above any thing attained or attain- 
able in their native land; but to those masses of negroes seg- 
25 



386 



History of Methodism. 



regatecl on the rice and sugar and cotton plantations, under 
climatic conditions agreeable to their tropical habits but dan- 
gerous for white residents, missionaries were sent who, con- 
strained by the love of souls, cheerfully submitted to the social 
inconveniences and malarious perils of the situation. By their 
efforts much people was added to the Lord. Chapels were built, 
and vast congregations of blacks were gathered and ministered to 
in doctrine and discipline and sacraments. Sunday-schools were 
formed and catechisms prepared for them, and the children of 
slaves were taught the truths of Christianity."''^ 

When Coke landed on the continent. Black Harry, unable to 
read, was the most advanced specimen of African Christianity 
he met with. On the general emancipation, effected by the Civil 
War, Southern Methodism showed thousands of negro preach- 
ers, exhorters, and class-leaders, who could read their Bibles and 
edify their congregations. Many of them were counted, by those 
wdio controlled the civil government of that day, fit for legislators 
and senators.f And when the sons of Wesley, from all parts of 
the world, gathered at City Boad Chapel in Ecumenical Con- 
ference, African bishops were there as representative members, 
who had never seen Africa. They had been born and con- 

"'^In 1860, Southern Methodism numbered in its membership 207,766 negroes, 
and over 180,000 negro cliildren, under catechetical instruction. By a persistent 
maneuver it has been attempted to sliift the odium of slavery upon those with 
whom it ended, instead of those Avitli whom it began; upon those connected with 
its only redeeming feature, instead of those whose connection with it was marked 
alone by lucre and cruelty. At tlie Convention of Delegates from tlie tliirteen 
States (Philadelphia), to consult upon the formation of a Constitution, the subject 
of slavery was referred to two committees successively. Tlie majority of tlie first 
were Northern men. They reported (Aug. 8, 1787) a recommendation that tlie slave- 
trade should be legalized perpetually. This committee was composed of five per- 
sons — Kutledge, Eandolph, Gorman, Ellsworth, and Wilson. The first two from 
the South, the last three from the North. The majority of the second were South- 
ern men. They recommended that the slave-trade should not be extended beyond 
the year 1800. The committee who reported this amendment consisted of eleven 
persons — Langdon, King, Johnson, Livingston, Clymer, Dickenson, Martin, Will- 
iams, Pinckney, Baldwin, and Madison. The first five represented Northern States, 
the last six Southern States. The^constitutional provisions on this head would nev- 
er have prolonged tliis infamous traffic to the year 1808, if either Massadliiselts, or 
New H ampsh ire, or Con nectic ut, had stogji by Delaware and Virginia, in that 
crisis of the country, and like them voted a gainst the extension. But the profits. 
of Ne\v England's ships had tojjejjrgtectjg^ 

t President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation was issued January 1, 1863. 



The Colored Chu.rch-mem'bersJiq) of Method ism. 387 



verted and reared in slavery, as modified by Christian influ- 
ence, and they gratefully acknowledged Methodist ministers 
as their spiritual benefactors. Their forefathers had been 
brought over under the decks of the slave-ships of England 
and New England; they went back, from the pupilage of Meth- 
odism in the slave States, as cabin passengers in steam-ships. 
Their forefathers had been idolaters, abject gregree worshipers; 
theg returned as redeemed Christian men and ministers — the 
Lord's freedmen. While these black bishops came from the 
fields of Southern slavery, over which Methodism persisted in 
her benignant and thankless but successful labors, none were 
present at that grand synod from the continent of Africa. 

Never in the history of the race, if we may rely on the census, 
did a given number of Africans so multiply and increase as did 
the negro slaves of the United States for a century following these 
instant measures of Bishop Coke and his party for emancipation. 
This speaks for their physical comfort. Never did an equal num- 
ber of Africans, anywhere else or at any time, attain to an equal 
intellectual, moral, and religious standard. The heathen Church- 
membership of all the missionary societies and stations, in all parts 
of the world, did not equal the colored membership of Methodism 
in the Southern States. To this may be added the colored mem- 
bership of the Baptists — only a little below that of the Method- 
ists — and the colored membership of other Churches, which cared 
for the bond as well as the free, and the problem is furnished 
approximately with facts for its solution. Humanity, inspired 
with religious sentiment, views with awe such a continental 
movement of Providence — transporting one race across the ocean 
to the home of another to be Christianized, and making the sub- 
jection of one to the other the condition of its instruction. The 
man-stealer and slave-trader meant it for evil, but God meant 
the relation of master and servant for good. What more is to 
come of it, we wait the unfolding of hidden things to see. 

Some elevated seers profess to have caught a glimpse of the 
redemption of the Dark Continent, that has defied all other mis- 
sionary enterprise, by the return of the best portion of its re- 
deemed children. It is for the Church, in the future as in the 
past, to do the present duty, guided by the plain truths of Divine 
revelation, and not by the shifting principles of human revolu- 
tions: assured that God is no respecter of persons; that all races, 



388 



History of Methodism. 



the weak as well as the strong, the black as well as the white, are 
alike the objects of his fatherly love; and that "the same Lord 
over all is rich unto all that call upon him." 

The unbiased historian of the time coming, who reviews the 
course of Methodist legislation on slave-holding, will probably 
give this opinion: If such legislation was founded on scriptural 
authority, it did not go far enough; if it had no such foundation, it 
went too far. A law is made for preachers which is not applied to 
the people, as though a separate moral code existed for each class; 
also, one part of the land is legislated for to the exclusion of an- 
other. Stringent emancipation rules are enacted in 1804, and fol- 
lowed by the clause: " The members of our Societies in the States 
of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee shall 
be exempted from the operation of the above rules." Again — on 
the last day of the next quadrennial meeting: "Moved from the 
chair, that there be one thousand Forms of Discipline prepared 
for the use of the South Carolina Conference, in which the sec- 
tion and rule on slavery be left out. Carried." 

In six months, the emancipation enactments of the Christmas 
Conference were annulled on the spot. Methodism as a broad 
and beneficent power was thus saved to the kingdom of heaven 
and to the world. Otherwise, it must have been cut off from 
the people it has blessed, and would speedily have degenerated 
into a narrow, fretful combination for social reform, "teaching 
for doctrines the commandments of men." 

The rescue of the new ecclesiastical organization from such a 
fate was a mercy to the slave as well as to the master. Natural 
freedom, sweet as it is, is infinitely unimportant, a mere secular- 
ity, when compared with that spiritual freedom which God, at so 
great cost, has provided for every man through the gospel. In 
God's order, St. Paul being judge, the primary concern and po- 
sition belongs to soul-emancipation. Let the gospel have free 
course; and if by its effects upon the master or the servant, or 
both, the way is prepared for, and the consequence points to, tem- 
poral freedom — well. In the meantime to leave the whole sub- 
ject where the Bible leaves it, and to bring it under the Bible 
treatment specifically provided, was always the wish of a grow- 
ing number of American Methodists. But they were in con- 
nection, highly prized, with others who earnestly favored and 
pressed a secular and more aggressive policy; and hence the 



Ashiinfs Conviction About the Blacks. 



389 



language o£ Cvompromise in the Discipline, and contradictory, in- 
consistent, varied, and vexing legislation on the subject. After 
the division of Episcoj)al Methodism into two independent juris- 
dictions, each body followed its tendency, and in less than twen- 
ty- years reached its position. The Northern section, which all 
the while had numbered more or less slave-holders in its com- 
munion, accepted "the new terms of communion" proposed in 
the Christmas Conference, and in 1864 unqualifiedly made slave- 
1' aiding a bar to membership. The Southern section, six years 
before that, had struck out all special legislation on the subject. 

Bishop Asbury, avowedly and of conviction an anti-slavery 
man, looked at the whole subject in a practical light. When he 
saw how every act of ecclesiastical interference with a civil institu- 
tion provoked new restrictions and prohibitions by the civil power 
and blocked up the way of the messengers of peace, he recorded 
in his journal (Feb. 1, 1809) this matured conviction: "AVe are 
defrauded of great numbers by the pains that are taken to keep 
the blacks from us— their masters are afraid of the influence of 
our principles. Would not an (finelioratioji in the condition and 
treatment of slaves have produced more practical good to the 
poor Africans than any attempt at their emancipation ? The state 
of society, unhappily, does not admit of this; besides, the blacks 
are deprived of the means of instruction — who will take the 
pains to lead them into the way of salvation, and watch over them 
that they may not stray, but the Methodists? Well; now their 
masters will not let them come to hear us. What is the jDersonal 
liberty of the African, which he may abuse, to the salvation of 
his soul — how may it be compared?" 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



Wesley's Requests not Complied With — Leaving his Name Off the Minutes — The 
Oflense and Eebake — Methodist Episcopacy tlie First in America — True to the 
Primitive Type— Ordinations of Luther and AVesley — Charles Wesley's Death. 

HILE independence was being secured and organized by 
the Conference of 1784, the importance of union found 
early expression. Hence this minute: " Question: What can be 
done in order to the future union of the Methodists? Answer: 
During the life of the Reverend Mr. Wesley, ^'e acknowledge 
ourselves his sons in the gospel, ready, in matters belonging to 
Church-government, to obey his commands. And we do engage 
after his death to do every thing that we judge consistent with 
the cause of religion in America, and the political interests of 
these States, to preserve and promote our union vrith the Meth- 
odists in Europe." 

Within three years this engagement was put to a severe test. 
So well had Ereeborn Garrettson acquitted himself in Nova 
Scotia that Wesley saw in him an instrument needing only to be 
clothed with large powers for achieving the greatest results, and 
he sent a request to the Conference (1787) for his ordination 
as superintendent, or bishop, for the British dominions in Amer- 
ica — a diocese comprising not only the north-eastern provinces 
and the Canadas, but also the West India Islands. Coke, as 
Wesley's delegate and representative in the matter, asked 
Garrettson if he would accept the appointment. Garrettson, 
more surprised than pleased at the affair, writes: 

I requested the liberty of deferring my answer until the next day. I think on 
the next day the Doctor came to my room and asked me if I had made up my 
mind to accept of mv appointment ; I told him I had upon certain conditions. I 
observed to him that I was willing to go on a tour, and visit those parts to whicli 
I was appointed, for one year; and if there was a cordiality in the appointment 
among those whom I was requested to serve, I would return to tlie next Confer- 
ence and receive ordination for the office of superintendent. His reply was, "I 
am perfectly satisfied," and he gave me a recommendatory letter to the brethren 
in the West Indies, etc. I had intended, as soon as Conference rose, to pursue my 
voyage to the W^est India Islands, to visit Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and 
in the sjmng to return. W^hat transpired in the Conference during my absence I 
knoAv not; but I was astonished, when the appointments were read, to hear my 
name mentioned to preside in the Peninsula. 
(390) 




Conference Declines to Grant Wesleifs Requests. 391 



The Conference declined to elect him, says one, because if 
ordained for the Provinces he must be confined wholly to that 
field; and he was not inclined to expatriate himself. But the 
true reason seems to have been the unwillingness of his breth- 
ren to lose Garrettson. He was retained in the States and 
returned to his old field of labor and triumph on the Maryland 
shore, whence, as we have already seen, he was the following 
year transferred to New York, and planted Methodism in the 
Hudson Valley. Wesley was disappointed and grieved; nor was 
this all. At the same time he had directed that Richard What- 
coat be ordained a joint superintendent with Asbury. This was 
a wise selection, as subsequent events showed; for thirteen years 
afterward he was chosen, but was too old and feeble then to do 
justice to himself or the office. The Conference declined com- 
pliance in this case also. Jesse Lee's account of the matter is: 

When this business was brought before the Conference, most of the preachers 
would not consent to it. The reasons against it were: (1) that he was not quali- 
fied to take the charge of the Connection; (2) that they were apprehensive that 
if Mr. AVhatcoat was ordained, j\Ir. AVesley would likely recall Mr. Asbury, and 
he would return to England. 

Dr. Coke contended that we were obliged to receive Mr. Whatcoat, because we 
had said in the Minutes when we were first formed into a Church in 1784: Dur- 
ing the life of the Rev. Mr. Wesley, we acknowledge ourselves his sons in the 
gospel, ready, in matters belonging to Church government, to obey his commands." 

Many of the members argued that they were not at the Conference when that 
engagement was entered into, and they did not consider themselves bound by it. 
Other preachers, who liad said they were "ready to obey his commands," said they 
did not feel ready noiv to obey. The preachers at last agreed to depart from that 
engagement which some of the elder brethren had formerly entered into, and in 
the next printed Minutes that engagement was left out. They had made the en- 
gagement of their own accord, and among themselves, and they believed they had 
a right to depart therefrom, when they pleased, seeing it was not a contract made 
with Mr. Wesley, or any other person, but an agreement among themselves. It 
was further argued that Mr. Wesley, while in England, could not tell what man 
was qualified to govern us, as well as we could who were present and were to be 
governed. We believed also that if Mr. Wesley was here himself he would be 
of the same opinion with us. We tlien wrote a long and loving letter to Mr. 
Wesley, and requested him to come over to America and visit his spiritual chil- 
dren. 

This step of receding from the above engagement was afterward considered 
by some disaffected persons as improper. If there was any thing improper in 
the business, it was in entering into the engagement, and not in departing from it. 

"Wesley's name was displaced from the next printed Minutes 
entirely by the omission of this " engagement " clause. It looked 



392 



Hisfory of Methodism. 



badly, and he was offended at the turn things had taken. How 
far this casting off of his name and authority might imjjly a x^res- 
ent or future de^Darture from the Founder's principles was not 
an irrelevant question in his mind. "Por this," writes Asbury, 
" ]Mr. Wesley blamed me, and was displeased that I did not rather 
reject the whole Connection, or leave them, if they did not comply. 
But I could not give up the Connection so easily, after laboring so 
many years with and for them." 

Disaffected persons made sinister use of the fact that in the 
nevr edition of the Discipline, which left "Wesley's name out, the 
vrord hisliop was used instead of his chosen superintendent, as a 
personal title of Coke and Asbury. The v/ord had been used 
in the designation of their office from the organization of the 
Church, and this change, indorsed by the Conferences, was ever 
afterward continued in the Discipline."^' 

In the correspondence of the next year, an '"'objurgatory epis- 
tle" appears, in which Wesley reminds Asbury: "There is in- 
deed a wide difference between the relation wherein you stand to 
the Americans and the relation wherein I stand to all the Meth- 
odists. You are the elder brother of the American Methodists; 
I am, under God, the father of the whole family." And then he 
indulges in a sharj) rebuke to his son in the gospel: 

But, in one point, my dear brother, I am a little afraid, both the Doctor and 
YOU differ from me. I study to be little; you study to be great. I creep; you strut 
along. I found a school; you a college I nay, and call it after your own names! 
O beware! Do not seek to be something! Let me be nothing, and ''Christ be 
all in all I" One instance of thi^, your greatness, ha^ given me great concern. 
How can you, how dare you, suffer yourself to be called bishop? I shudder, I 
start at the very thouglit ! Men may call me a knave or a fool, a rascal, a scoun- 
drel, and I am content; but they shall never, by my consent, call me bishop/ For 
my sake, for God's sake, for Christ's sake, put a full end to this! 

The concluding words, " Thus, my dear Franky, I have told 
yon all that is in my heart," are in keeping with the tenor and the 
purpose of the epistle to rebuke display and the vaulting ambi- 
tion which some had unjustly laid to Asbury 's charge. " Had Mr. 
Wesley been in America," says a writer of a later day, " and wit- 
nessed Mr. Asbury' s manner of life, throughout the vrhole of his 

^Instead of ''Question 1. Who are the superintendents of our Church for tlie 
United States? Answer. Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury," the new edition 
read, "Question 1. AVho are the bishops of our Church for the United States? 
Answer. Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury." 



Weski/s Name Left Off the American Minutes. 393 



long and arduous ministry in this country, we are confident lie 
never could have expressed himself to that devoted and holy man 
in the style of this letter. In spirit, in conversation, in deport- 
ment, in dress — in short, in whatever pertained to his person, 
his equipage, and his entire movements — Mr. Asbury was a 
model of apostolical simplicity; nor was any man, not even Mr. 
Wesley himself, ever less justly liable to the imputation of strut- 
ting than he." 

Wesley had in his eye the airs and pretensions of " the mitered 
infidels" and lordly prelates of his own land; he was jealous over 
his American children "with godly jealousy" lest their simplicity 
of character should be corrupted. He saw in the personal title, 
the being called bishop, pomp and parade, official arrogance and 
exclusiveness; and recent events had sharpened his pen. This 
growing independence naturally excited his parental solicitude. 
"Did he not upon this occasion," says his chosen English biog- 
rapher, Moore, " a little forget what he had written in his address 
to the Societies in America, after their separation from the moth- 
er country: 'They are now at full liberty simply to follow the 
Scriptures and the primitive Church; and we judge it best that 
they should stand fast in the liberty wherewith God has so 
strangely made them free." 

At the date of this letter, Asbury was making the grand tour 
of the continent, along which we have followed him in a former 
chapter, reaching from the sea-shore to the Mississippi Yalley, 
and from Charleston to New York, climbing hills and swimming 
rivers, ordaining missionaries at their outposts, and setting in 
order the Churches upon a scale of labor and fatigue and prog- 
ress unequaled by Wesley himself, because England afforded 
no equal theater of action — and all on a salary of sixty dollars a 
year: "soaring, indeed," as he admits, "but over the tops of the 
highest mountains." 

The apparent discourtesy and blunder — called in the pamphlet 
literature of the day "the leaving Mr. Wesley's name off the 
American Minutes" — was repaired next year, thus: "Who are 
the persons that exercise the episcopal office in the Methodist 
Church in Europe and America? John Wesley, Thomas Coke, 
and Francis Asbury." This act of respect was followed by an- 
other question and answer, which guarded the exclusive author- 
ity of the American Church: "Who have been elected, by the 



394 



History of Methodism. 



unanimous suffrages of tlie General Conference, to superintend 
the Methodist Connection in America? Thomas Coke and Fran- 
cis Asbury." 

This matter would hardly have occupied more than a para- 
graph in history, but for the fact that on this letter, more than on 
any thing else, the o-px3onents of Methodism have founded their 
charge that Wesley did not design to establish the American 
Methodist episcopacy, but that Coke and Asbury exceeded his 
intentions. Quotations from this letter have been incessantly 
made, in a form well adapted to produce a false effect, for it 
can be rightly comprehended only by the plain circumstances 
of the case. The disingenuous and illogical uses which an 
episcopal party in this country has endeavored to make of 
these expressions of AVesley have strangely enough been shared 
by some seceders from Episcojoal Methodism who attempt to 
convict the two Bishops of usurping an office which Wesley 
never meant to confer. The history of the whole transaction 
as already given, and in every material point allowed by these 
persons, would seem to make argument with them hopeless; 
with others, of more candid temper, it is needless. 

No case can be better made out before a competent tribunal 
than that John Wesley, upon maturest deliberation and coun- 
sel, purposed and took all formal measures to establish and per- 
j)etuate an episcopacy for American Methodism, upon a presby- 
terial basis. Men, according to their notions, may differ and dis- 
pute about the sufficiency or the insufficiency of that basis, the 
scriptaralness or the unscripturalness of that transaction; but 
there can be no reasonable doubt as to what was intended and 
done. John Wesley belonged to that class of Episcopalians who 
believe that episcopacy is not a distinct order, but a distinct office, 
in the ministry; that bishops and presbyters, or elders, are of the 
same order, and have essentially the same prerogatives; but that, 
fcr convenience, some of this order may be raised to the episcopal 
office, and functions originally pertaining to the whole order — as 
ordination, for example — may be confined to them. The presbyter 
thus elevated is but primus inter pares — the first among equals."'^ 

*Tlie irpoECTojc of the primitive Church — presiding officer. The "words episco- 
pos (Greek), superintendeni (Latin), and bishop (English), have the same meaning 
— namely, an overseer. Bishop (Saxon, bischop) is a corruption of the Latinized 
Greek word episcopus. 



Methodist Episcjjxicif—The Primitive Ti/pe. 



395 



Kicliard Watson, in condition to know the initial history of 
ordinations for the Methodist Episcopal Church, says: "Their 
episcopacy is founded upon the principle of bishops and pres- 
byters being of the same degree — a more extended office only 
being assigned to the former, as in the primitive Church. For 
though nothing can be more obvious than that the primitive pas- 
tors are called bishops or presbyters indiscriminately in the New 
Testament, yet at an early period those presbyters were, by way 
of distinction, denominated bishops, who presided in the meet- 
ings of the presbyters, and were finally invested with the gov- 
ernment of several churches, with their respective presbyteries; 
so that two offices were then, as in this case, grafted upon the 
same order.'' Mr. Watson adds that "such an arrangement was 
highly proper for America," and that "the bishops of the Meth- 
odist Church in America have in practice as well exemplified the 
primitive sx)irit as in principle they w^ere conformed to the prim- 
itive discipline." 

The following remarks are from an authority little less emi- 
nent than the above: 

It is clear that the New Testament does not enforce any ecclesiastical code. We 
have no pattern of the Christian Church given in Mount Zion, as was given to 
Moses in Horeb; no dimensions, furniture, utensils, priestly robes, specific manner 
of service, as was the case in the Jewish temple. The simple reason is, Christian- 
ity is designed to be universal, to embrace the whole family of man, and to give 
its light, grace, holiness, and blessings to all the world. How, then, can this sys- 
tem minister its mercy in the same modes? The New Testament furnishes us 
with great principles, general rules, precedents, and examples, for our guidance; 
and then affords freedom as to the circumstantials of time, manner, and the em- 
ployment of means. 

The provision made by Mr. Wesley to meet the wants of Scotland may be ad- 
duced. It was found that the usual mode of doing good in England did not suit 
the state of things in that covmtry; and in consequence of this absence of adapta- 
tion, the work of God did not prosper as in other places. Did the founder of our 
Societies determine, doggedly and pertinaciously, to adhere to one mode of opera- 
tion? Instead of this, he deviated entirely from his accustomed practice, ordained 
ministers for that portion of the gospel field, and sanctioned Cliurch principles 
which, to say the least, were very diflTerent from those he adopted in this part of 
the nation. In the American case we have another illustration of tlie point on 
which Ave are dwelling. When the United States had effected their emancipation 
from tlie mother country, Mr. Wesley considered himself at liberty to act with 
perfect freedom in the new territory, and, we may say, to develop his views and 
opinions fully; and, if we mistake not, it is to the American Methodist Episcopal 
Church that we are to look for the real mind and sentiments of this great man. 
Obstructions removed, he instantly seized the opportunity of appointing an entire 



396 * History of Methodism. 



Cliurcli system, cn tlie principle of moderate episcopacy. And if we may judge 
of the wisdom and piety of tlie design by its usefulness and success, certainly we 
shall be prepared to consider it most providential.* 

Luther and liis associated clergy believed that a system of 
Church government embracing a degree of ministerial imparity 
was expedient and scriptural, and organized Churches with su- 
perintendents or bishops, resting explicitly upon a jure ecclesias- 
tico and not upon an assumed and fictitious jure diriiio claim. 
For the former claim, the precedent and practice of primitive 
Christianity may be adduced. For the latter, no solitary passage 
of Scripture can be pleaded. The Papal theory alone is con- 
sistent on this point: the visible Church is a mediator between 
man and God, sacramental union with which alone gives us ac- 
cess to salvation; the ministry is a priesthood, having had sacer- 
dotal grace transmitted to it for administering valid sacraments; 
the instrument of transmission is the "sacrament of orders," 
which is intrusted exclusively to the hands of a bishop, who was 
ordained by some other bishop, who likevdse Avas ordained by 
some other, until by tactual succession or ascension we come to 
the very apostles of Christ themselves. This is a theory which 
one can understand. It is consistent as well as plain. It lacks 
bat one thing — it is not true! To this theory, premises and con- 
clusion, Wesley like Luther gave a distinct, unmistakable deniaLf 
And surely he was in good company when he said: "The unin- 
terrupted succession I know to be a fable, vdiich no man ever 
did or can prove." 

Among other Churchmen of high authority. Bishop Hoadiey 
asserts: "It hath not pleased God, in his providence, to keep up 
any proof of the least probability, or moral possibility, of a reg- 
ular, uninterrupted succession; but there is a great appearance, 
and, humanly speaking, a certainty, that the saccession hath 
often been interrupted." And the learned Archbishop Whately: 
" There is not a minister in all Christendom Avho is able to trace 
up, vdth approach to certainty, his spiritual pedigree. The 

■* Methodism in its Origin and Economy, by James Dixon, D.D., ex-president 
of the AVesleyan Conference, 1848, 

tThe Wesleyan like the Lutheran movement originated its episcopacy, and 
conserved and perpetuated its spiritual forces, upon the presbyterial basis. Martin 
Luther, assisted by three other presbyters, ordained the first Lutheran bishop, 
Kicholas Amsdorf, January 20, 1542. Thus was originated the Lutheran episco- 
pacy of Germany and Europe. 



Vicious Nature of the Succession'' Claim. 



397 



transmission of orders from the apostles to an English clergy- 
man of the present day must have been through a great number 
of intermediate persons. Now, it is probable that no clergyman 
in the Church of England can trace up his spiritual genealogy 
from bishop to bishop, even so far back as the time of the Ref- 
ormation. There remain fifteen or sixteen hundred years during 
which the history of the transmission of his orders is buried in 
utter darkness," 

That such a theory of the ministry finds any acceptance is 
because certain principles of human nature favor it. It pleases 
the "clergy," for it invests them with a mysterious power, an aw- 
ful sanctity; and this gives them importance apart from moral 
character and mental ability. The same principle long kept 
the heathen oracles in credit. It is a pleasing fancy for 
the people — this getting something, tangibly, by a direct line 
from the apostles! The idea of an unbroken chain of ordained 
persons is readily taken in, and that some special virtue must 
attach to their ministrations is admitted with unthinking facility. 
Baptism at their hands works inward regeneration; by their ma- 
nipulations "the real j^resence" is communicated to bread and 
wine; absolution pronounced by them goes farther and means 
more than if the magic words were pronounced by others. Here 
is a refuge for formality and carnal security. 

Fortunately American Methodism has no such evil inheritance 
as this fancied " succession " carries in its very nature ; for it seems 
to be inevitably corrupting to Protestantism. It is a leaven that 
works, wherever lodged, and prevails sooner or later. Like the 
interdicted omer of manna which " bred worms and stank " — like 
the brazen serpent that Israel burned incense to, and the reform- 
ing king broke in pieces and put away as nehushtan — so is the 
claim of the " succession," upon whatever historical pretense. The 
Low-church or Evangelical party in the English Establishment 
was a power for good, when half a century ago a knot of learned 
and earnest Churchmen began to push so-called succession to its 
ultimate consequences. The essential principle of Romanism is 
in it. Perversions to popery became frequent and popish ten- 
dencies grew under the name of Puseyism, until we have seen 
the Evangelical party wane, and the dominating influence and the 
great preferments pass into the hands of its opponents. The 
moderate or evangelical party in the Protestant Episcopal Church 



898 



H'istonj cf Methodism. 



of America was declared in his time by Bishop White to include 
the hirge majority of his co-religicnists; but it has nearly disap- 
peared, and an attempt was latel}^ made by its representatives to 
organize a Eeformed Episcopal Church, free from the sacerdotal 
tendencies and doctrinal corruptions of the parent body. 

The Methodist Episcopacy, making no claim to this spurious 
line, rescues the name of bishop from perversion, and redeems 
this ancient and efficient and unifying form of government from 
suspicion. It gives to a pure system of doctrine the benefit cf 
an apostolical system of propagandism and government, while 
maintaining the unity of the Spirit in fraternizing with all 
evangelical denominations. Methodist episcopacy was first in 
America, by several years in the persons of its bishops as well as 
in the organization of its communicants, and it remains the best 
type. It has central government, without the subtle temptation 
or prescription to lord it over God's heritage. It has enough of 
ritual to insure decency and order in public worship, and to meet 
the demands of a true cuUks — without the baldness and barren- 
ness and individual irregularity that offends the aesthetic taste. 
It has a conservative force to maintain sound doctrine with an 
aggressive spirit that promulgates it. It is not so nicely balanced 
as to stand still; for where large responsibility is involved it con- 
fers large power, but holds it to account. Supervision is every- 
where, and this supervision is itself periodically supervised. 

John Wesley, knowing his brother's opinions, did not take him 
into his counsels when arranging for the American Church. Upon 
Coke's return to England, with his ordination-sermon and jour- 
nal, and "Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Amer- 
ica," the Christmas Conference matters were much discussed. 
Charles w^as deeply wounded, and attacked Coke and the pro- 
ceedings. There seems to have been no doubt, no misunder- 
standing on that side of the water as to what had been intended 
and done on this. Charles Wesley exclaims against his broth- 
er's act: "Dr. Coke's Methodist Episcopal Church in Balti- 
more was intended to beget a Methodist Episcopal Church 
here. You know he comes, armed with your authority, to 
make us all Dissenters. One of your sons assured me that not 
a preacher in London would refuse orders from the Doctor." 
One Dr. Seabury, of Connecticut, after waiting two years upon 
the English bishops for ordination to the episcopacy, and failing, 



Coke's Proceedings Vindicated. 



399 



went to the non-juring bishops of Scotland and got the "suc- 
cession" from them. In time it came to be regarded as an infe- 
rior article. He was very kind, offering to ordain such Methodist 
preachers as were "qualified;" and Charles Wesley complains 
that his brother and Dr. Coke did not wait for Dr. Seabury and 
get orders on that line. 

Coke, condemned in the public prints for his proceedings, pub- 
licly replies that he had done " nothing without the direction of 
Mr. Wesley." The charge of ambition had been more than inti- 
mated, and Wesley replies to his brother: "I believe Dr. Coke 
is as free from ambition as from coA^etousness. He has done 
nothing rashly that I know. If you will not or cannot help me 
yourself, do not hinder those that can and Avill. I must and will 
save as many souls as I can while I live, without being careful 
about what mo^y possihhj he when I die." Poets often prophesy; 
and Charles uttered grievous vaticinations of the fate of the 
American Methodists: " They will lose their influence and impor- 
tance ; they will turn to vain janglings; they will settle again upon 
their lees, and, like other sects of Dissenters, come to nothing! " 

His biographer, an ex-president of British Methodism, says: 

Their Church has indeed violated the theory of a succession of bishoj)s, as a dis- 
tinct order, from the apostles. It has an episcopacy which was originated by a 
presbyter; but it has not been a whit the less salutary on this account. As an in- 
strument of extensive spiritual good to the souls of men, it appears to immense 
advantage when compared with the American e^jiscopacy with wliich Bishojj Sea- 
bury stood connected. In tlie Methodist Church the great design of the sacra- 
ments, of preaching, and of ecclesiastical discipline, has been answered. The mem- 
bers are undeniably justified through faitli in the blood of Jesus, and are sanctified 
by the power of the Holy Ghost, flusbands and wives, parents and children, the 
aged and the young, the ricli and the poor, the master and the servant, have ex- 
hibited, and still exhibit, both in life and death, the piety, the zeal, tlie charity, the 
justice, the holiness, peace, and joy of apostolical Christianity, which Charles Wes- 
ley has described in his incomparable hymns. Could he have witnessed«the 
triumphant extension of the work of God in connection with the ordinations, he 
would have smiled at his honest mistake, and have wiped away his needless tears. 

And yet the appointment of a bishop by presbyters is no novelty, as tlie early 
history of the Church of Alexandria demonstrates, as well as that of the Lutheran 
Church in Germany. In the appointment of Dr. Coke, Mr. W esley did no more 
than the great German reformer had done to meet tlie wants of the people whom 
God had given him. Every reader of ecclesiastical history knows that Martin 
Luther, again and again, with the aid and concurrence of his fellow-presbyters, 
ordained bishops for the Protestant Church of Germany.* 



- Life of C. Wesley, by Thomas Jackson. 



400 



History of Methodism. 



The life and ministry of Charles Wesley closed out becom- 
ingly. Time brings old age; the active workers slacken their 
pace, and then cease. One of the most affecting incidents con- 
nected with advancing life is the loss of early friends, who suc- 
cessively retire to "the house appointed for all living." This is 
a Avarning and a preparation to survivors. The death of Perronet 
was soon followed by that of Fletcher — the first peaceful, the 
last triumphant. On his death-bed, having the most elevated and 
impressive views of the atonement, Fletcher often exclaimed : 

"Jesus' blood, tlirough earth and skies, 
Mercy, free, boundless mercy, cries!" 

and added, in the full exercise of an appropriating faith: 

''Mercy's full power I soon shall prove, 
Loved with an everlasting love I" 

In this manner the eloquent and successful advocate of the Wes- 
leyan theology closed his eyes upon earth and passed to the en- 
joyment of his endless reward. 

In old age Charles Wesley's employment and pleasures were 
reduced to three things — preaching the gospel, making hymns, 
and comforting those that mourn. In the pulpit the fiow of spirits 
and of words and of thoughts was often sluggish; but morning 
and evening of Lord's-day, he desired to be there. "In such 
cases," says his biographer — waiting for utterance and aid, 
"he usually preached with his eyes closed; fumbled with his 
hands about his breast; leaned with elbows upon the Bible; and 
his whole body was in motion. He was often so feeble as to be 
under necessity of once or twice calling upon the congregation 
to sing, that he might recover himself and be able to finish his 
discourse." In prayer he was copious and mighty, especially 
upon sacramental occasions, when he seemed to "enter into tho 
holiest of all by the blood of Jesus." Enfeebled by years and 
disease, he continued his public religious services, in this spirit 
and manner, till within a few months of his death. For con- 
demned felons his compassionate concern continued undimin- 
ished to the last. He visited them in their cells; wept with them 
because of their guilt and misery; taught them the way to the 
mercy-seat of God, through the death of his Son; prayed with 
them. The last publ '.cation he sent from the press was a tract 
of twelve pages, entitled, "Prayers for Condemned Malefactors," 
consisting of hymns adapted to their use. 



Last Bays of Charles Wesley. 



401 



At this period Charles Wesley's appearance and habits were 
peculiar. He rode every day (clothed for winter even in sum- 
mer) a little horse gray with age. When he mounted, if a sub- 
ject struck him, he proceeded to expand and put it in order. He 
would write a hymn thus given him, on a card (kept for that pur- 
pose), with his pencil in short-hand. Not unfrequently he has 
come to the house in the City Eoad, and, having left the pony in 
the garden in front, he would enter, crying out, "Pen and ink! 
pen and ink!" These being supplied, he wrote the hymn he 
had been composing. When this was done, he would look round 
on those present, and salute them with much kindness; ask after 
their health; give out a short hymn, and thus x)ut all in mind of 
eternity. He was fond of that stanza upon those occasions: 
There all the ship's company meet. 

When confined to his bed, he wished to hear nothing read but 
the Holy Scriptures. "I visited him several times in his last 
sickness," said Dr. Whitehead, his physician, "and his body 
was indeed reduced to the most extreme state of weakness. He 
possessed that state of mind which he had been always pleased 
to see in others — unaffected humility, and holy resignation to the 
will of God. He had no transports of joy, but solid hope and 
unshaken confidence in Christ, which kept his mind in perfect 
peace." All his prayer was for "patience and an easy death." 
Some person remarked that the valley of the shadow of death 
was hard to be passed. " Not with Christ," he replied. While in 
extreme feebleness, having been silent and quiet for some time, 
he called Mrs. Wesley to him, and requested her to write the 
following lines at his dictation : 

In age and feebleness extreme, 
Who shall a sinful worm redeem? 
Jesus, my only hope thou art, 
Strength of ray failing flesh and heart ; 
O could I catch a smile from thee, 
And drop into eternity ! 

With this swan-like note, the sweet singer glided into the up- 
per choir. For fifty years Christ had been the subject of his 
sermons and of his songs; and he may be said to have died 
with a hymn to Christ upon his lips, March 29, 1788, at the ad- 
vanced age of seventy-nine years. 
26. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



The Council: Its Failure — O'Kelley's Schism — Hammett's — Charge of Heresy — 
General Conference of 1792: Some of its Work — EeiDuLlican Methodists — Pre- 
siding Elders : Their Office and its Duties Defined — John Wesley's Death. 

THE want of a bond of nnion among the various Conferences, 
that met separately in annual session, was attempted to be 
supplied by a Council. The plan of it was approved by a major- 
ity of the preachers in 1789, and the Council held its first meet- 
ing that year. The preamble of the enacting clause runs thus: 

AVhereas the holding of General Conferences on this extensive continent would 
be attended with a variety of difficulties, and many inconveniences to the work of 
God ; and whereas we judge it expedient that a Council should be formed of chosen 
men out of the several districts as representatives of the whole Connection, to meet 
at stated times. 

The composition of the proposed body was then stated: 
Our bisho23S and presiding elders shall be the members of this Council; pro- 
vided that the members who form the Council be never fcAver than nine. And if 
any unavoidable circumstance prevent the attendance of a presiding elder at the 
Council, he shall have authority to send another elder out of his own district to 
represent him; but the elder so sent by the absenting presiding elder shall have 
no seat in the Council without the approbation of the bishop or bishops, and pre- 
siding elders present. And if, after the above-mentioned provisions are com[)lied 
with, any unavoidable circumstance, or any contingencies reduce the number to less 
than nine, tlie bishop shall immediately summon such elders as do not preside, to 
complete the number. 

The powers of the Council, apparently great, were really very 
small. " These shall have authority to mature every thing they 
shall judge expedient: (1) to preserve the general union; (2) to 
render and preserve the external form of worship similar in all 
our Societies through the continent; (3) to preserve the essen- 
tials of the Methodist doctrines and disciplin® pure and uncor- 
rupted; (4) to correct all abuses and disorders; and, lastly, they 
are authorized to mature every thing they may see necessary for 
the good of the Church, and for promoting and improving our 
colleges and plan of education." A delegated General Confer- 
ence seems not yet to have been thought of. The maturing Coun- 
cil could only make " recommendatory propositions," but its own 
make-up, as part of a legislative system, was open to objection. 
(402) 



The Council — Its Failure. 



403 



There was a provision wliicli not only required unanimity in the 
Council, but which, moreover, declared that "nothing so assented 
to by the Council shall be binding in any district until it has been 
agreed upon by a majority of the Conference held for that dis- 
trict." This neutralized any possible utility of the whole arrange- 
ment, and instead of securing uniformity, made non-conformity 
probable and more pronounced. "For," said Jesse Lee, who 
opposed the new plan, "if one district should agree to any im- 
portant point, and another district should reject it, the union be- 
tween the two districts would be broken, and in process of time our 
United Societies would be thrown into disorder and confusion." 

The first session of the Council was held at Cokesbury, De- 
cember 1, 1789, consisting of Richard Ivey, from Georgia; R. 
Ellis, South Carolina; E. Morris, North Carolina; Philip Bruce, 
Northern District of Virginia; James O'Kelley, Southern Dis- 
trict of Virginia; L. Green, Ohio; Nelson Reed, Western Shor<^, 
Maryland; J. Everett, Eastern Shore; John Dickins, Pennsyl- 
vania; J. O. Cromwell, New Jersey; and Freeborn Garrettson, 
New York. Bishop Asbury says, "All our business was done in 
harmony and love." "The concerns of the college," "the |)rint- 
ing business," and "funds for our suffering preachers on the 
western frontiers," were subjects discussed and acted on at this 
meeting. The Council was jjleased with its work and closed a 
session of several days with this conclusion: "Considering the 
weight of the Connection, the concerns of the college, and the 
printing business, it is resolved that another Council shall be 
convened at Baltimore on the 1st day of December, 1790." 

As a legislational expedient the Council was a failure, gaining 
neither time nor unanimity in the adoption of necessary meas- 
ures. The subsequent construction, that its acts were binding on 
every one when concurred in by a majority of all the members 
of the several Conferences, was a strained construction. It looks 
like an after-thought. But to quiet the discontent it had ex- 
cited and to meet the want which this ill-contrived and unfort- 
unate expedient had clearly failed to meet, a General Conference 
was called for November, 1792. 

Two effects, attributed to the Council, long survived it. One 
was the interpolation of the General Rules with the slavery 
clause. No Conference put it there, and no editor or printer 
ever confessed doing it. It happened in the time of the Council, 



404 



History of Methodism. 



the limit of whose powers was not well defined, in its own estima- 
tion. The other effect v/as the O'Kelley schism. James O'Kel- 
ley was one of the thirteen preachers selected by the Christmas 
Conference for the office of elder; and from this period until his 
withdrawal from the Church, he continued without interruption 
to fill a prominent position on the "Southern District of Vir- 
ginia," which embraced nearly all the southern counties of the 
State with a portion of North Carolina. He exercised great in- 
fluence over the preachers and people in that part of the work, 
and as a leader was regarded as hardly second to Asbury. A 
member of the Council^ he was present at the first session, and 
sanctioned its suggestions. But he had scarcely returned home 
before he began a course of systematic opposition. 

Whether this desertion of his colleagues, and, at first, covert 
war on the Council, resulted from a conviction of the impropri- 
ety of its acts, or from jealousy of Bishop Asbury's growing in- 
fluence, must here be left undetermined. If his objections were 
founded on the acts of the Council, he should have opposed them 
in its session, where one dissent would have defeated them. If 
his mind had changed as to the expediency of the Council itself, 
he should have opposed it on its own merits. The industrious and 
insidious manner in which he assailed Asbury, and endeavored 
to undermine the Bishop's influence with all who were under 
his own, makes an unfavorable impression. He did not attend 
the second session of the Council, but called a convention of the 
preachers of his district a month before it met; and the subjects 
proposed for this irregular consultation and the spirit evoked 
were such as to alarm Coke, when informed of them, for the 
stability of the Church. The Council was his hobby, by which 
he endeavored to convict Asbury of designs the most ambitious 
and unscrupulous. However, to the surprise of those who had 
been training under him to attack it, the Bishop, so soon as the 
general dissatisfaction became evident, made no stand for it. 
The second session, for the sake of peace, sent out no "recom- 
mendatory propositions," and a third session was never held.'^ 

The General Conference assembled in Baltimore, November 
1st, 1792. No such assemblage had been held for eight years. 
There is no "official" record of its proceedings, but Lee, who 
was present, represents the gathering of preachers as numerous. 



■^Life and Times of McKendree, by Paine; Vol. I., page 128. 



The aKelley Schism. 



405 



"from all parts of the United States where we had any circuits 
formed." They came with "the expectation that something of 
great importance would take place." 

The first business of the Conference was a revision of the Dis- 
cipline. On the second day O'Kelley brought forward an amend- 
ment to one of the fundamental regulations of the Church. The 
amendment was in the following words: "After the bishop ap- 
points the preachers at Conference to their several circuits, if 
any one think himself injured by the appointment, he shall have 
liberty to appeal to the Conference and state his objections, and 
if the Conference approve his objections, the bishop shall appoint 
him to another circuit." This proposition indirectly involved the 
administration of Asbury, and he retired from the body, leav- 
ing Bishop Coke to preside. O'Kelley's motion brought on a 
long debate: the arguments for and against the proposal were 
vv^eighty, and handled in a masterly manner. " There never nacL 
been a subject before us," says a member, "that so fully called 
forth all the strength of the preachers. A large majority of them 
appeared at first to be in favor of the motion." 

After much debate, John Dickins moved to divide the question 
thus: 1. Shall the bishop appoint the preachers to the circuits? 
2. Shall a preacher be allowed an appeal? Upon deliberation 
this form of question was allowed. The first question being put, 
ic Avas carried without a dissenting voice. But when they came 
to the second, "Shall a preacher be allovred an appeal? " all the 
ground was gone over again, and the renewed contest waxed 
warmer and stronger. Sunday intervened; it was a high day. 
"On Monday," says Lee, "vre began the debate afresh, and con- 
tinued it through the day; and at night we went to Mr. Otter- 
bein's church, and again continued it till near bed-time, when the 
vote was taken, and the motion was lost by a large majorit 

Thomas Ware, a member of the Conference, says: 
O'Kelley's proposition been differently managed it might possi- 
bly have been carried. For myself, at first I did not see any thing 
very objectionable in it; but when it came to be debated, I very 
much disliked the spirit of those who advocated it, and wondered 
at the severity in which the movers, and others who spoke in 
favor of it, indulged in the course of their remarks. The advo- 
cates of the opposite side were more dispassionate and argument- 
ative. They urged that Wesley, the father of the Methodist 



406 



History of Methodism. 



family, had devised the plan, and deemed it essential for the 
preservation of the itinerancy. The appeal, it was argued, was 
rendered impracticable on account of the many difficulties v,dth 
which it was encumbered. Should one preacher appeal, and the 
Conference say his appointment should be altered, the bishoj) 
must remove some other one to make him room, in which case 
the other might complain and appeal in his turn; and then again 
the first might appeal from the new appointment, or others whose 
appointments these successive alterations might interrupt. Hear- 
ing all that was said on both sides, I was finally convinced that 
the motion for such an appeal ought not to carry." 

The people had an interest in the issue, and Asbury, by v/ay 
of caution, had put in a word for them: "Are you sure that if 
you please yourselves the people will be as fully satisfied ? They 
often say, ' Let us have such a preacher; ' and sometimes, ' We will 
not have such a preacher; we will sooner pay him to stop at home.' 
Perhaps I must say, 'His appeal forced him upon you.' " 

The next morning a letter was received from O'Kelley and a 
fevf of his adherents, informing the Conference that as their res- 
olution had been rejected they could no longer retain their seats 
in that body. Efforts were at once made to conciliate them; a 
committee was appointed to wait on O'Kelley and those who were 
joined with him, and if possible to persuade them to resume 
their seats ; but the effort utterly failed. 

A few days after, he and his partisans set out on their return 
to Yirginia, "taking their saddle-bags, great-coats, and other 
bundles, on their shoulders or arms, and walking on foot to the 
place where they had left their horses, which was about twelve 
miles from town." "I stood and looked after them," says Lee, 
"as they went off, and observed to one of the preachers that I 
was sorry to see the old man go off in that way, for I was per- 
suaded he would not be quiet long, but he would try to be the 
head of some party." 

This debate consumed a week; it was time well spent; and then 
the Conference addressed itself to other work which did much to 
shape the polity of the Church. 

The name of presiding elder appears for the first time in the 
Discipline, and the ofiice is defined. It had grown up out of 
the elders, sparingly elected in 1784, whose duty was to give 
the sacraments to the churches and to supervise, in a general 



Presiding Elders and Their Duties. 



407 



way, the circuits among which they moved. With Wesley's ap- 
proval the number w^as afterward increased. A doubt had ^irisen 
as to the extent of their powers within their districts, and Avhetlier 
a bishop could appoint or remove them. Their designation to 
their respective sections had been without respect to time. 
O'Kelley had traveled the same district in Southern Virginia 
ever since his ordination, and had preached there several years 
before. It is supposed that disadvantages resulting from, his 
case led to tlie present limitations of the office. The new law 
provided that the bishop should appoint the presiding elders, not 
allowing them a longer term than four years on any one district. 
It was likewise determined that the districts should be formed 
according to the judgment of the bishop, yet so as not to include 
more than twelve nor less than three circuits in a district. 
Moreover, it was also said, " The bishop shall appoint the time 
of holding the District Conferences." 

An Annual Conference, including several districts as now, had 
not then been developed. It was not until four years later that 
the territory of the Church Avas mapped out into Conferences in 
the present way, with names and definite boundaries. The pre- 
siding elder was a sort of diocesan bishop, holding his four 
Quarterly Conferences for each circuit, and then, if the general 
superintendent be absent, presiding at the "Yearly Conference." 
It v/as a great step forward, in the efficient and thorough organi- 
zation of Methodism as an Episcopal Church, wdien this officer's 
place and powers were defined. "Methodism," said one of its 
earliest and best expounders, "is union all over; we must draw 
resources from the center to the circumference." As the gen- 
eral superintendent unifies the Connection, taking the oversight 
of all the churches, and transferring preachers from one point 
to another as they are needed, without regard to Conference lines, 
so the presiding elder unifies the district, with its various circuits, 
stations, and missions. It is his duty: "To travel through his 
appointed district; in the absence of the bishop, to take charge 
of all the elders, deacons, traveling and local preachers, and ex- 
horters in his district; to change, receive, and suspend preach- 
ers in his district, during the intervals of the Conference, in the 
absence of the bishop, as the Discipline directs; to oversee the 
spiritual and temporal business of the Societies in his district; 
to take care that every part of our Discipline be enforced in his 



408 



History of Methodism. 



district; to attend the bishops, when present in his district, and 
to give them, when absent, all necessary informaiion, by letter, 
of the state of his district." Such officers are the supplement of 
the general itinerant superintendency; without them it would be 
impracticable on a continental scale. They complete the local 
supervision and make the general one possible. Being selected 
for experience and ability, they make a large amount of ministe- 
rial talent in young or untrained men available, who otherwise 
could not safely be intrusted with the pastoral care. By their 
help, advice, and direction, the feeble parts are strengthened and 
temporary vacancies supplied. They restrain the erring, encour- 
age the despondent, plan for improvement and progress, main- 
tain uniformity and continuity, and being appointees of the bish- 
op, work with him to Connectional unity. 

To the salaries of the traveling preachers ( sixty-four dollars a 
year) an addition was made of their traveling expenses. " Their 
traveling expenses were to include ferriage, horse-shoeing, and 
provisions for themselves and horses on the road, when they 
necessarily rode a distance." A new rule was made allowing a 
preacher to receive money, if offered (but not to charge), for per- 
forming the marriage ceremony; but an old one was continued 
in force forbidding him to accept a gift for baptism or burial. 
In all this we see the reputation for mercenary character which the 
preceding clergy had established. Methodist preachers were so 
determined to steer clear of that rock they ran upon the opposite 
one. Dearly did they pay for it through many years. But the 
object of this and similar regulations, as stated by the historian, 
Vv^as v/orthy of the purest times: "To keep all the preachers as 
nearly on an equal footing as possible in their money matters, 
that there might be no jealousies or envyings among us; but that 
we, like brethren of the same family, might all labor together in 
the gospel of Jesus Christ." 

Provision was made for the trial of preachers for immorality, 
or improper conduct, and for heresy. Also for arbitration be- 
tween private members, in cases of debt or disputes about money 
■ — thus promoting peace, and keeping them out of unseemly and 
strife-provoking lawsuits. 

Directions were given for the conduct of public worshij), secur- 
ing a due proportion of reading the Scriptures, sihging, and 
prayer in the congregation, as well as preaching. Special atten- 



Some Bides of the Second General Conference. 409 



tion was given to singing, because in that part of divine service 
a disposition was manifested, from tlie beginning, to take from 
tlie body of tlie people what belonged to them, by the introduc- 
tion of strange and impracticable tunes. "We do not think," 
say the law-makers, "that fugue tunes are sinful, or improper 
to be used in private companies, but we do not approve of 
their being used in our public congregations, because public 
singing is a part of divine worship, in which all the congrega- 
tion ought to join." "Before these rules were formed," remarks 
the historian of that Conference, " a practice in the public con- 
gregations had prevented many of the old saints from singing 
at all, and singing in public worship was likely to be wholly con- 
fined to a few. It was always a custom among the Methodists 
for all the people in the congregation to sing. Singing being a 
part of divine worship, we encouraged all to worship God." 

The right and order of ajopeal from the sentence of a lovver to 
a higher Church-court were secured and regulated. 

In their preface to " The Doctrine and Discipline of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church in America," the Bishops say: "' Yfe have 
made some little alterations in the present edition, yet such as 
affect not in any degree the essentials of our doctrines and dis- 
cipline." And they add this general remark, which is an answer 
to all who captiously object to a neic edition of the Discipline 
every four years: "We think ourselves obliged frequently to 
view, and review, the whole order of our Church, always aiming 
at perfection; standing on the shoulders of those who have 
lived before us, and taking advantage of our former selves." 

This, which may be called the second General Conference, did 
not adjourn without providing for the assembling of a similar 
body. One of its principal members describes it : 

JSTotwithstanding we had some close debates, and some distressing hours during 
that Conference, and with all, some of oi:r preachers were so offended as to leave 
before the business was half linished, yet it was a comfortable time to most of us, 
and we were highly favored of the Lord Avith his presence and love in the last of 
our sitting. The proceedings of this General Conference gave great satisfaction 
to our preachers and people; and the divisive spirit which had been prevailing in 
different parts of our Connection, was considerably checked. And nothing that 
was done gave more satisfaction than the plan that was laid for having another 
General Conference at the expiration of four years from that time, to Avhich all 
the preachers in full connection Avere at libei"ty to come. Some of the preachers 
who came to the Conference dissatisfied, at tlie close of the meeting were perfectly 
reconciled, and returned to their circuits fully determined to spend and be spent 
in the Avork of the ministry, and in the felloAVsliip of the Church. 



410 



Histonj of Metliodism. 



Bishop Coke went away with a higher estimate of the ability 
of American itinerants. "AYe continued our Conference," he 
says, "for fifteen days. I had always entertained very high 
ideas of the piety and zeal of the American preachers, and of 
the considerable abilities of many; but I had no expectation, I 
confess, that the debates would be carried on in so very masterly 
a manner; so that on every question of importance the subject 
seemed to be considered in every possible light." 

As was prophesied, O'Kelley did not remain quiet long: he 
; was soon destroying what he had helped to build up. Alluding 
to his failure to get the old plan changed at the late Conference, 
Asbury writes: " For himself the Conference well knew he could 
not complain of the regulation. He had been located in the 
south district of Virginia for about ten successive yearsj_and 
upon his plan might have located himself, and any preacher or 
set of preachers, within the district, whether the people vrished 
to have them or not." 

O'Kelley unfolded his scheme, on the way from Baltimore, to 
a young itinerant who was temporarily under his malign influ- 
ence, but escaped out of the snare in time to be a burning and 
a shining light and a trusted leader. — It was, to have " a repub- 
lican, no-slavery, glorious Church! Bishop Asbur}^ was a pope; 
the General Conference Avas a revolutionizing body; the Bishop 
and his creatures were working the ruin of the Church to gratify 
their pride and ambition!" 

He labored diligently to sow broadcast the seeds of strife 
and disunion. By private letters and public harangues he strove 
to excite the public against Asbury and the Church government. 
Writing to a friend of former days, he said: "No doubt you have 
heard I had resigned my place in Conference. I protest against 
a consolidated government, or any one lord, or archbishop, claim- 
ing apostolic authority, declaring to have the keys. Thus our 
ministry have raised a throne for bishops, which being a human 
invention, a deviation from Christ aiid dear Mr. Wesley, I cor- 
dially refuse to touch." In one of the pamphlets which soon be- 
gan to be issued, Asbury was called the "Baltimore Bull," and 
a rude picture of a bull's head graced the title-page. 

O'Kelley adroitly availed himself of the political agitations 
of the daj^ and organized his associates under the j)opular name 
and title of "Eepublican Methodists." 



The S2)irit of Division — Its Cost. 



411 



"It was enough," says Jesse Lee, "to make the saints of God 
weep between the porch and the altar, and that both day and 
night, to see how the Lord's flock was carried away captive by 
that division." He thus describes it: 

All were to be on an equal footing. One preaclier was not to be above another, 
nor higher in office or in power than another. No superiority or subordination 
was to be known among them. They promised to the lay members of the Church 
greater liberties tlian they had formerly enjoyed among us, and prevailed with a 
good many of our people to leave us and join them. In some places they took from 
us whole Societies together, and in many places they drew off a part. Others they 
threw into confusion; and in some places they scattered the flock and separated the 
people one from the other, without securing them to their own party. Brother 
was turned against brother, and one Christian friend against anotlier. The main 
contention was about the government of the Church ; who should govern it, or in 
Avliat manner it ought to be governed. In this mist of darkness and confusion, 
many religious people, wlio had been warm advocates for the life and power of 
religion, began to contend about Church government, and neglect the duties of 
religion, till they were turned back to the Avorld, and gave up religion altogether. 

The spirit of division prevailed chiefly in the soathern part of 
Virginia, and in the border counties of North Carolina, in all 
which region the personal influence of O'Kelley has been seen. 
It also extended beyond these limits. We find the first two 
missionaries in Kentucky — Ogden and Haw — drawn away into 
his scheme. And in other places, he had adherents. 

In 1801, O'Kelley issued a pamphlet in which he announced 
himself and his adherents as "The Christian Church," renounc- 
ing all rules of Church government but the New Testament, as 
interpreted by every man for himself. Some of his Societies 
readily assumed the high-sounding name, others hesitated and 
divisions followed. One party clung to O'Kelley as " The Chris- 
tian Church; " another followed John Kobertson as " Eepublican 
Methodists; " and yet another, under the lead of Guirey and oth- 
ers, set up for themselves under the title of "Independent Chris- 
tian Baptist Church." Lee, writing in 1809, says: "They have 
been divided and subdivided till at present it is hard to find two 
of them that are of one opinion. There are now but few of them 
in that part of Virginia where they w^ere the most numerous." 

The hurt done may in part be estimated by figures. At the 
close of 1791, the Methodist membership numbered 63,269 whites, 
and 12,884 colored— total 76,153. It was not until 1801 that these 
figures were again reached. At the end of the first four years of 



* Bennett's Memorials of Methodism in Virginia. 



412 



History of Methodism. 



Episcopal Metlioclism, as already stated, its membersliip was 
doubled; and in the next three, it was more than doubled. Mov- 
ing forward at this rate, it was arrested by a decade of strife. 
The lowest point is shown in the returns of 1796, when 45,384 
white members, and 11,260 colored were reported. The Church 
then recovered its tone; the falling away ceased; and the next 
year showed a gain of 1,060 white, 958 colored members; and 
there was a steady annual increase afterward. 

Bishop Asbury met the Virginia Confere nee a t Manchester, 
November 26 — tvrelve days after the General Conference ad- 
journed. The plague was begun; he threw himself promptly 
into the leader's stronghold, and did what he could to arrest the 
evil. Among the painful incidents of the session was a letter 
from a young preacher — Wm. McKendree — res]3ectfully declin- 
ing to take an appointment for the ensuing year. He was a lately 
ordained elder, and from the beginning of his ministry had been 
in O'Kelley's district. The arch-agitator had nursed him dili- 
gently for years, and had shaken his confidence in Asbury and 
the Church government. He had the young man for his travel- 
ing companion to Baltimore, roomed with him, and brought him 
away on the failure of his motion. McKendree did not with- 
draw; he wanted time to consider. His biographer tells the rest: 

Shortly after the ch:?e cf the Conference, Bishop Asbnry jDassed through the 
neighborhood of Mr. McKcndree's father. The mind of young McKendree "R'as 
ill at ease about his duty, and having had an intervie-w with the Bisiiop, he "was 
treated Vidth great kindness, and invited to travel with him awhile. The invita- 
tion was accepted, and as they went from one appointment to another, througli the 
eastern portion of Yirciini;!, tlicy calmly and fully discussed the subjects of Climx-h 
government — especially Methodist government — the late attempt to change the 
system, the course and design of Mr. O'Kelley, and the consec[uences likely to re- 
sult to himself and others. Bishop Asbury did not correspond to the description 
whicli ]\Ir. McKendree had heard of him. Instead of being austere, jDroud. ambi- 
tious, and bent upon subjecting the liberties of the membership and the ministry 
to his w iW, he was surprised to fmd him humble, devout, sell-denying, and r-uceas- 
ing in his. efforts for tlie welfare of the Church. He soon understood, too, the 
evil consequences wliich would inevitably follow the adoption cf O'Kelley's late 
favorite measure — the ruin of tlie general superintendency, and of the wliole itin- 
erant system. The spell r f the encl;anter was broken; humbled and mortified at 
his own weakness, vriih cliaracteristic candor, he confessed liis error, was received 
again into the confidence of the noble and warm-hearted old Bishop, and at once 
sent to the city of Xorfolk."^ 



^Pfiine's Life and Times of ^McKendree. 



Hammetfs Schism. 



413 



It was only a month's suspension of an itinerant ministry which 
ended, as we shall see, only with his useful and holy life. This 
shaking up, this honest doubt, led him to study the whole sub- 
ject closely, and McKendree became the constitutional expounder 
of Methodism. He mastered the philosophy as well as the de- 
tails of its goyernment, and was prepared, at a future crisis, to 
stand in the breach and save it against a host of strong men. 

While Asbury spared no pains to expose O'Kelley's errors and 
thwart his plans and counteract his mischievous influence, he kept 
his heart right toward him. At Winchester, hearing that his 
former friend was lying ill, the Bishop sent tAvo brethren to say 
that he would wait on him if he desired it. They " met in peace, 
asked of each other's welfare, talked of persons and things in- 
differently, prayed, and parted in peace. Not a word was said of 
the troubles of former times." This was their first interview after 
the rupture, and the last. O'Kelley lived to be ninety-two years 
of age, dying in 1826. " He saw the man whom he had sought 
to ruin descend to his grave in peace and full of honors, mourned 
by grateful thousands as the Father of American Methodism. 
He saw his place filled and his principles defended by another, 
whom he had fondly marked for a leader in his own ranks. He 
saw hundreds of his own followers forsaking him, and rallying 
again to the standard of Episcopal Methodism. He saw those 
who remained scattered and broken into contending factions. 
All this he lived to witness, and in the face of all, the stern old 
man clung to his cause with a heroism worthy of a better one, 
and with faltering voice and failing strength proclaimed his con- 
fidence in its ultimate success." 

Impartial history requires us to say we find no evidence of the 
heresy alleged against James O'Kelley — that he was unsound 
on the Trinity, and hastened his secession for fear of being 
brought to trial. An error so radical must have worked out, in 
him and his followers, striking manifestations; but none such 
appear. The few preachers and people who continue to repre- 
sent him represent also, so far as known, a sound doctrine and 
experience. The trouble was governmental, not doctrinal; and 
in the later adjustments of Episcopal Methodism, occasion could 
hardly be found for its recurrence. 

Evil was in the air. The spirit of dissension was rife. About 
this time the Church in Charleston was humbled and brought 



414 



History of Methodism. 



very low by a schism that extended to Georgetown and Wilming- 
ton, and ate like a canker into the country congregations from those 
centers. Another young minister, who subsequently entered 
into the best Methodist history, also barely escaped this snare. 
The father of William Capers had been an officer with Marion 
and Sumter in the Revolution; was a man of wealth and social 
position, and one of Asbury's best friends. There was a camp- 
meeting near Rembert* Hall, in November, 1808. Bishop As- 
bury was there. The late Bishop Capers, then just entering the 
ministry, in his autobiography gives the leading facts: 

In the former days my father's house was one of his favorite homes. My father 
was of the first race of Methodists in South Carolina, and a decided and influential 
one; he had declined from his spirituality some time after his removal to Geoi'ge- 
town District; and not till the present year had he recovered it. On Dr. Coke's 
visit to America in 1791, he was accompanied from the West Indies to Charleston 
by William Hammetr, and this Mr. Hammett choosing to remain in Charlestcn, 
found some occasion to object to Mr. Asbury and the American preachers, as if 
they had done him a wrong on account of his devotion to Mr. Wesley; Mr. Asbury 
being (as he represented) ambitious of supplanting Mr. Wesley wdth the American 
people. Mr. Hammett had the confidence of Mr. Wesley (by what means does not 
appear) to the last of his life; and on that foundation he raised his Society of 
Primitive Methodists. And when we consider that there were then no Methodist 
books published in America, and the people knew little of the action of the Con- 
ferences, but what they got verbally from the preachers, and that Mr. Hammett 
had been introduced by Dr. Coke as one of the most godly as well as the most 
gifted of the preachers, the wonder is not that he should have drawn otF to him- 
self, under a banner inscribed Wesley against Asbury," some of the most influ- 
ential of the people, but we might wonder rather that he did not seduce them all ; 
and the more, as he was unquestionably an eloquent and able man, of fine person 
and engaging manners, and at first vastly popular. But his work did not prosper. 
He had estranged his adherents, of whom my father was one, from the rest of the 
Methodists, whom they called "the Asbury Methodists," for no good result either 
to himself or them. I was introduced to Bishop Asbury immediately on his com- 
ing to the camp-meeting, as I happened to be in the preachers' tent at the time of 
his arrival. I approached him timidly, you may be sure, and with a feeling of pro- 
found veneration ; but "Ah," said he, " this is the baby ; come and let me hug you ; " 
meaning that I was the baby when he was last at my father's house. On my father's 
entering.the tent, he rose hastily from his seat and met him with his arms extended, 
and they embraced each other with mutual emotion. It had been seventeen years 
since they had seen each other; and yet the Bishop asked after Sally and Gabriel, 
as if it had been but a few months, and repeated gleefully, "I have got the baby ! " 
It was evident that no common friendship had subsisted between them; and how 
much happier had those years of estrangement been to my honored father if they 
had been passed in the fellowship which he had been seduoed to leave ! I hate 
schism, I abhor it as the very track and trail of him who "as a roaring li' r walk- 
3tli about seeking whom he may devour." 



The Close of Wesley's Life. 



415 



Hammett's schism was not so extensive as his brother Irish- 
man's; he lacked his fierce energy and his large acqnaintance. 
In Charleston enough members were drawn away from the " Blue 
Meeting-house," and enough outsiders enlisted to build a fine 
chapel and parsonage. After fifteen or twenty years, by pur- 
chase or by treaty, this Trinity Church and other Hammett 
church property in other places, with most of the membership, 
reverted to the old side or Asbury Methodists. The oak is rooted 
by storms as well as by sunshine. In the long run it may be well 
that Episcopal Methodism endured such ordeals at the begin- 
ning; but the souls of men are in the crucible, and humanity 
grudges a wasteful consumption. 

The two bishops were passing through Virginia, when Asbury 
made this entry in his journal for April 29, 1791: 

The solemn news reached our ears that the public papers had announced the 
death of that dear man of God, John Wesley. He died in his own house in Lon- 
don, in the eiglitv-eighth year of his age, after preaching the gos^Dcl for sixty-four 
years. Brother Coke was sunk in spirit, and wished to hasten home immediately. 
For myself, notwithstanding my long absence from Mr. Wesley, and a few unpleas- 
ant expressions in some of his letters the dear old man has w^ritten to me (occa- 
sioned by the misrepresentation of others), I feel the stroke most sensibly. Dr. 
Coke set out for Baltimore in order to get the most speedy passage to England; 
leaving me to fill the appointments. 

At Alexandria the solemn news w^as confirmed — John Wesley 
had died March 2d. "Our people die well," was his thought- 
ful summary of the death-bed experiences of the first Method- 
ists, half a century before; and his own death was no excej3tion. 
The prayer that was often on his lips was answered: 

" O that without a lingering groan 

I may the Avelcome word receive, 
My body with my cliarge lay down, 
And cease at once to work and live." 

His journal shows this last birthday record: "June 28, 1790.— 
This day, I enter into my eighty-eighth year. For above eighty- 
six years, I found none of the infirmities of old age; my eyes did 
not wax dim, neither was my natural strength abated; but, last Au- 
gust, I found almost a sudden change. My eyes were so dim that 
no glasses would help me. My strength likewise now quite for- 
sook me; and probably will not return in this world. But I feel 
no pain from head to foot; only it seems nature is exhausted; and, 



416 



History of Methodism. 



humanly speaking, will sink more and more, till 'the weary 
springs of life stand still at last.' " 

A month before that, he was making his tour in the North. 
One of his ijreachers wTites: "In the latter end of May, Mr. 
Wesley visited us. He came from Glasgow that day (about sev- 
enty miles), but his strength was almost exhausted, and, when lie 
attempted to preach, very few could hear him. His sight was 
likewise much decayed, so that he could neither read the hymn 
or text." And a month before that he preached at Bradshaw, 
where, on his tottering up the pulpit stairs, the whole congrega- 
tion burst into a flood of tears. Wesley's old age was fruitful 
as well as beautiful. Marvelous had been the success of Meth- 
odism up to the year 1780; and, yet, the' results during the last 
ten years of his life were more than double the united results of 
the forty years preceding. 

At the age of seventy-five he published the first number of his 
Arminian Magazine (1778) — now the oldest in the world — and 
was its editor and most valuable contributor to the last year of 
his life; furnishing six sermons annually, fresh and vigorous. 
When eighty-five years old we find him breakfasting at three 
o'clock in the morning with a friend. Addressing his coachman 
.at this early breakfast in the city of York, he said: "Have the 
carriage at the door at four. I do not mean a quarter or five min- 
utes past, but four." He still preaches once or twice a day, but 
begins to find three sermons on Sunday not always convenient. 
Taking stock of himself at this time, he says: "It is true, I am 
not so agile as I was in times past. I do not run or walk so fast 
as I did; my sight is a little decayed. I find, likewise, some de- 
cay in my memory, with regard to names and things lately past, 
but not at all with regard to what I have read or heard twenty, 
forty, or sixty years ago; neither do I find any decay in my hear- 
ing, smell, taste, or appetite (though I want but a third part of 
the food I did once); nor do I feel any such thing as weariness, 
either in traveling or preaching; and I am not conscious of any 
decay in writing sermons; which I do as readily, and I believe 
as correctly, as ever." To two things chiefly, under God's bless- 
ing, he thinks this prolonging of his tranquillity may be attrib- 
uted — " to my having constantly, for above sixty years, risen at 
four in the morning ; and to my constant preaching at five in the 
morning, for above fifty years." 



''The Best of All is, God is With Usr 



417 



The last letter he wrote to America bore date February 1, 1791, 
and was 'addressed to Ezekiel Cooper who died in 1847, "the old- 
est Methodist preacher in the world." He says: 

Those that desire to write or to say any thing to me have no time to lose, for 
time has shaken me by the hand, and death is not far behind. I have given a 
distinct account of the work of God which has been wrought in Britain and Ire- 
land for more than half a century. We want some of you to give us a connected 
relation of what our Lord has been doing in America since the time that Eich- 
ard Boardman accepted the invitation and left his country to serve you. See that 
you never give place to one thou^^ht of separating from your brethren in Europe. 
Lose no opportunity of declaring to all men that the Methodists are one people 
in all the world, and that it is their full determination so to continue — 

Though mountains rise, and oceans roll, 
To sever us in vain. 

The death of Charles Wesley deeply and permanently affected 

him. He was far aAvay on his wide field at the time his brother 

died and was buried; but it is recorded as a curious incident that 

(as was afterward ascertained) he and his congregation, at the 

very moment of his brother's exit, were singing: 

" Come let us join our friends above . 
That have obtained the prize." 

A fortnight afterward he attempted to give out, as his second 
hymn, the one beginning with the words, " Come, O thou trav- 
eler unknown; " but when he came to the lines, 

My company before is gone, 

And I am left alone with Thee, 

the bereaved old man sunk down under uncontrollable emotion, 
burst into tears, and hid his face with his hands. The congrega- 
tion well knew the cause of his speechless excitement; singing 
ceased; and the chapel became a Bochim. At length, Wesley 
recovered himself, rose again, and went through a service which 
was never forgotten by those who were present. 

February 24, 1791, he rose at 4 a.m. ; went to an appointment 
eighteen miles from London, and preached from " Seek ye the Lord 
while he may be found; call upon him while he is near." This 
was Wesley's last sermon — the last of more than forty thousand. 
Such symptoms appeared on the 26th that a physician was called 
in. Sunday morning, the 27th, he seemed better, sat in his chair, 
looked cheerful, and repeated from one of his brother's hymns: 

"Till glad I lay this body down. 
Thy servant, Lord, attend ; 
And O my life of mercies crown 
With a triumphant end ! " 

27 



History of MefJiodisnh 



And soon after, with marked empliasis, lie repeated the Master's 
words—" Our friend Lazarus sleei)eth." " I want to write," said 
he. A pen was put in his hand, and paper Avas placed before 
him; but his hand had forgot its cunning. "I cannot," said the 
dying man. "Let me write for you," remarked his niece; "tell 
me what you wish to say." "iNothing," he replied, "but that 
God is with ns." " I vdll get up," was his firmly expressed wish 
at another time, after repose; and, while his friends were arrang- 
ing his clothes, Wesley began singing: 

"I'll praise my Maker while I've breath; 
And, when my voice is lost in death, 

Praise sliall employ my nobler powers: 
My days of praise shall ne'er be past, 
"While life, and thought, and being last, 

Or immortality endures." 

Once more seated in his chair, in a weak voice, he sung what 
proved to be his last song on earth: 

"To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
Who sweetly all agree." 

His voice failed; he whispered: "Now we have done. Let us all 
go." Happy, but exhausted, he was put to bed, where, after a 
short but quiet sleep, he opened his eyes, and addressing the lov- 
ing AV ateliers who stood around him, said, "Pray, and praise!" 
They Avere at once npon their knees, and feiwent were the dying 
X^atriarch's responses, especially to the prayer that God would 
still bless the sj^stem of doctrine and discipline which he had 
been the means of introducing into the world. On rising from 
their knees, he took hold of all their hands and with the utmost 
placidness saluted them, and said, "Farewell, fareAvell." A lit- 
tle after, a person coming in, he stroA'e to speak, but conld not. 
Finding they could not understand him, he paused a little, and 
then, AYitli all the remaining strength he had, cried out, " The 
hest of all is, God is AA'ith us!" and soon after, lifting np his 
arm in token of A^ctory, and raising his feeble voice with a 
holy triumph not to be expressed, he again repeated the heart- 
reA^Adng words, " The best of all is, God is with us." 

Wednesday morning the closing scene drew near. A faith- 
ful friend prayed with him, and the last word he was heard to 
articulate Avas, "Farewell! " A few minutes before ten, without 
a groan, this beloved pastor of thousands entered into rest. 



The World's Verdict. 



419 



John Wesley needs no eulogy from his children. Methodists 
may not speak. Let others declare the trnth. 

" He was a man," says Lord Macanlay, " whose eloquence and 
logical acuteness might have rencfered him eminent in litera- 
ture; whose genius for government was not inferior to that of 
Richelieu; and who devoted all his powers, in defiance of oblo- 
quy and derision, to what he sincerely considered the highest 
good of his species." 

"A greater poet may rise than Homer or Milton," writes Dr. 
Dobbin, of Oxford University, " a greater theologian than Calvin, 
a greater philosopher than Bacon, a greater dramatist than any 
of ancient or modern fame; but a more distinguished revivalist 
of the Churches than John Wesley, never." 

The judgment of Southey, in a letter to Wilberforce, is: "I 
consider Wesley as the most influential mind of the last century 
— the man who will have produced the greatest effects, centuries, 
or perhaps millenniums hence, if the present race of men should 
continue so long." 

March 30, 1876, Dean Stanley unveiled a monument, in West- 
minster Abbey, to John and Charles Wesley. "As you will see 
presently, when the monument is uncovered," said he, "John 
Wesley is represented as preaching upon his father's tomb; and 
I have always thought that that is, as it were, a parable which rep- 
resented his relation to our own national institutions. He took 
his stand upon his father's tomb — on the venerable and ancestral 
traditions of the country and of the Church. That v^^as the 
stand from which he addressed the world; it was not from the 
points of disagreement, but from the points of agreement with 
them in the Christian religion, that he produced those great 
effects which have never since died out in English Christendom." 

A space in the wall on the south aisle of the venerable Abbey, 
three by nine feet, is filled with a massive white marble tablet. 
Within a sunken circle are medallion profiles, life-size, of the 
two brothers. Above, are their names, with date of birth and 
death. Below — "The best of all is, God is with us." Be- 
neath this quotation is sculptured, in bold bas-relief, John 
AVesley preaching on his father^ tombstone. At the bottom is 
Charles Wesley's exultant exclamation: 

"God bueies his workmen, but caeeies on his woek." 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Jesse Lee Enters ISTew England — Inhospitable Reception — The Difficulties — Gains 
a Footing — The Need of Methodism There — Asbury Confirming the Work — 
Soule — Fisk — Hedding — Bangs — Boston Common — Success — Memorial. 

ASCULPTOE, mallet and cliisel in hand, stands before a 
fine block of marble. It is cold and hard, but he sees a 
warm and noble statue in it and falls to work to release it. So 
might Jesse Lee have contemplated New England. Soule and 
Hedding, Mudge and Merritt, Sabin, Broadhead, Fisk, Bangs, 
and Hunt, and others, are there, with a host of members true to 
their principles, earnest in their convictions; saving much and 
giving much; taking a great deal of interest in their neighbors' 
affairs and managing their own thriftily; the last field to be 
entered by Methodism and the first to report any thing like a 
well-endowed Methodist College; potentially fruitful of mission- 
aries and Church historians — such a land was worth possessing. 

As yet, Methodist preachers had gone round it: they had 
spread to Canada and Nova Scotia on the north ; to Iltica on the 
west, and entered the Yalley of Wyoming; but no entrance had 
been effected into New England. Jesse Lee felt this to be his 
mission. He had been gradually approaching it; starting at 
Salisbury, thence to Baltimore, and thence to New^ Jersey, he 
was ready to cross the border and only waited the word from the 
general superintendent. He had heard of Yankee learning, with- 
out dismay. His library, itinerant like himself, embraced a Bi- 
ble, hymn-book, and Discipline. In common with itinerants, it is 
likely that he wore a straight-breasted coat, and a white cravat 
without collar; that his face was smooth-shaven, and his hat had 
an ample brim ; and he traveled on horseback. In the forks of 
the Yadkin he had picked up a little colloquial Dutch; and when 
to test his scholarship the parsons and school-masters, full of 
Greek and Latin, addressed him in an unknown tongue, he paid 
them back in their own coin. Ready and witty when seK-defense 
called for it, he was also loving and pathetic: at once ten- 
der and sharp, the very man for such an enterprise. He pos- 
sessed a courage which nothing could daunt, and a cheerfulness 
(420) 



Jesse Lee in New England. 



421 



that never failed. His style of address was full of shrewdness 
as well as of force, whereby he could rivet the attention of any 
audience, going straight to the hearts of his hearers, "patting 
them at once on the defensive if they were inclined to contro- 
versy, or carrying them completely with him if they were hon- 
est seekers after the truth." In person of magnificent presence, 
thirty-two years old, and above the ordinary size, he had the 
manners of a Christian gentleman, and could sing the Meth- 
odist hymns in a style that left little use for church-bells to call 
together his congregation. His crowning endowment for a mis- 
sion among the descendants of the Puritans was an abiding con- 
viction that he was directed by God to bestow on them some spir- 
itual gifts which they needed. Full of the Holy Ghost and faith 
he did not expect a holiday recreation; he counted on difficulties 
and discouragements, but he had faith in the power of the gos- 
pel. It was the old battle of lamps and pitchers, of the sword 
of the Lord and of Gideon. 

" Stamford — Jesse Lee," was read out by Bishop Asbury at the 
close of Conference held in New York, May, 1789. Stamford was 
the first town in Connecticut over the border line, and really 
meant all New England, where Methodism had not a single 
member, and what had been heard of it had made the name 
synonymous with fanaticism and heresy. To the appointee the 
whole territory was new; and if he should enter any door, it 
would be after he had pushed it open. Three capital disabili- 
ties had to be met : He was from the South, a quarter from which 
the people he was sent to did not look for light; he was an Ar- 
minian, and hardly any thing worse could be said of his doctrine 
among the descendants of the Pilgrims, where predestination, 
election, reprobation, decrees, final perseverance, and kindred 
dogmas, were secured behind strong and venerable intrench- 
ments; lastly, he was not, in technical phrase, an "educated min- 
ister." Among his first adventures, after crossing the line, was 
this: He alighted at the door of an inn, and told the hostess he 
was a preacher and wished to preach in the village. " Have you 
a liberal education, sir?" "Tolerable, madam; enough, I think, 
to carry me through the country." 

Another peculiarity of the situation may be added: The land 
was divided into parishes and dotted over wdth meeting-houses, 
and it was held to be the duty of every citizen to support the 



422 



Historij of Methodism. 



gospel just as mucli as to support the public roads or the public 
schools. The clergy were a ruling class in secular as well as in 
spiritual affairs; their salaries were raised by taxes collectable by 
law from unwilling parishioners; and for years no one could hold 
office unless he were a member of a Church of " The Standing 
Order" — that is to say, Orthodox Congregationalism. To be 
exempted from this tax one must certify to the parish authorities 
that he " did duty " in connection with some other religious So- 
ciety. Thus the formation of other Societies within territory 
tributary to the " standing order " furnished an opportunity for 
persons to take themselves and their property out from under the 
operation of the Church tax law; on which account the setting 
up of any new religious organization was a serious affair, finan- 
cially as well as theologically. It has been the fashion in certain 
quarters to accuse the old-time clergy of Kew England of " sav- 
age orthodoxy," in view of their opposition to the Methodist 
movement; but a careful study of the situation will show an- 
other side to the shield. It was not only the theology of Geneva 
and Westminster they were defending, but their political, finan- 
cial, and social preeminence. Free grace and free-will were bad 
enough, but free Churches were worse. There was too much 
freedom already; and if Methodist churches, on the voluntary 
system, were to become numerous, there would be a falling off' 
in parish revenues.'-^ 

"When they questioned him about " principles," and argued on 
the "five points," Lee was not troubled; but he sorely felt the 
lack of hospitality. On reaching a house to which he had been 
invited, no one offered him a seat; helping himself to a chair, he 
tried to be at home; when the hour for preaching came, not one 
of the family would go; on his return from meeting, scarcely a 
word was spoken to him; the man of the house held jjrayers, and 
said nothing to his guest; in the morning the whole family slept 
against time, and Lee was compelled to leave fasting. 

His first day's experience was often repeated: "June 17. — I set 
out with prayer to God for a blessing on my endeavors, and with 
an expectation of many oppositions." Arrived in Norwalk, he ap- 
plied for a private house to preach in, but was refused. He then 
asked for the use of an old deserted building, but was again re- 



" History of Methodism, by Eev. W. H. Daniels, A.:SL 



Rebuffs and Welcomes. 



423 



fused. He proposed to preach in a neighboring orchard, but was 
still repulsed. He took his stand at last under an apple-tree on 
the public road, surrounded by twenty hearers. "After singing 
and praying," he says, "I preached on 'Ye must be born again.' 
I felt happy that we were favored with so comfortable a place. 
After preaching I told the people that I intended to be with them 
again in two weeks, and if any of them would open their houses 
to receive me I should be glad; but if they were not willing, we 
would meet at the same place." 

Sometimes he got the school-house, or a barn, or the court- 
house, or a private dwelling, for a preaching-place, and sometimes 
it was under the trees. Three months of chilling rebuffs and 
occasional welcomes passed, he preached at Stratfield, and after 
the sermon conducted " a kind of class-meeting," composed of 
about twenty persons. This led to the formation, the next day, 
of the first class, composed of three women, who, he says, " ap- 
peared willing to bear the cross, and have their names cast out as 
evil, for the Lord's sake." At Hartford he is allowed the State- 
house: "They were very solemn and attentive; many of them 
were deeply affected, and wept bitterly under the word. It ap- 
peared to me that God was opening the way for us." Return- 
ing, in his circuit, to this place, he records: 

I was informed that several persons Avere awakened by my preaching when I 
was here before. The hearing of this humbled my soul in the dust, and strength- 
ened my faith. Ah, Lord, what am I, that thou shouldst own my labors and com- 
fort my soul ? Not unto me, not unto me, O Lord, but unto thy name be the glory I 
At two o'clock they rang the bell, and we met in the State-house. I preached on 
1 Thessalonians v. 19. I had a large number of hearers to speak to; and glory 
be to God for his goodness to me while preaching his word ! I felt my soul happy 
in the Lord ; the people heard with great attention, and with many tears. 

In one of the villages of Connecticut there lived at this time an 
honest and intelligent blacksmith, who, when Lee appeared there, 
kept his family at home, lest they should become infected with 
the itinerant's heterodoxy. One of his sons, about twelve years 
old, heard of the arrival of the stranger. He was not allowed to 
hear him preach, but never forgot the marvelous ramors of his 
ministry. He was to become Lee's successor in this very field, 
and to do important service for his Church. Such, says his bi- 
ographer, v/as Nathan Bangs's first knowledge of Methodism. 

At Farmington, the itinerant came face to face with "princi- 
ples," which means dispute. He was entertained by a Mr. W. : 



Historij of Methodism. 



We had been there but a little time before the old man began to talk about 
principles, and the old lady to prepare dinner. We continued the discourse till we 
had dined. When the old man found out that we believe a person might fall from 
grace and be lost, he discovered a good deal of anger, and said, " If David had died 
in the act of adultery, and Peter while swearing, they would have been saved." 
"Then," said I, "after a man is converted he is obliged to be saved; he can't help 
it." " Yes," said he, " he is obliged to be saved, whether he will or not, for it is 
impossible for him to help it." He said he would as soon hear us curse God at 
once as to hear us say that God would give his love to a person and then take ii; 
away. I told him God Avould never take it away, but we might cast it away. See- 
ing he was much ruffled in his temper, I thought it best to be moving ; so we asked 
him the way to Mr. Coles's, but he would not tell us, for he said Mr. Coles w^ould 
not like his sending such men to his house. HoAvever, we got directions from his 
wife, and then we set out. I shook hands with the old man, and told him I hoped 
God would reward him for his kindness. 

After preaching at Fairfield, on a cold wintry night, Decem- 
ber 24, he exclaimed: '.'To-night, thanks be to God, I was in- 
vited by a widow woman to put up at her house. This is the 
first invitation I have had since I first came to the place, which 
is between six and seven months. O my Lord, send more labor- 
ers into this part of thy vineyard ! J love to break up new ground, 
and hunt the lost souls in New England, though it is hard work; 
but when Christ is with me, hard things are made easy, and rough 
ways made smooth."^ 

Monday, the 2Sth, was the date of the second Society. "I 
preached," he writes, "in Beading, and found great assistance 
from the Lord in speaking. I felt that God was among the peo- 
ple. One or two kneeled down with me when we prayed. The 
lion begins to roar very loud in this place, a sure sign that he is 
about to lose some of his subjects. I joined two in Society for 
a beginning. A man who has lately received the witness of his 
being in favor with the Lord led the way, and a woman who, I 
hope, was lately converted, followed." 

January 28, 1790. "I set out," he writes, "and my soul was 
transported with joy; the snow falling, the wind blowing, prayer 
ascending, faith increasing, grace descending, heaven smiling, 
and love abounding. I preached at Jacob Wheeler's, in Lime- 
stone, and after meeting formed a class, two men and two women. 
Perhaps these may be like the leaven hid in the three measures 
of meal, that they may leaven the whole neighborhood." After 
seven months' hard labor, he has three classes with an aggregate 
of eight members. 



Preachmg m Boston Common. 



425 



Lee liad reported to Asbury and asked for help. He was hold- 
ing a quarterly-meeting at Dantown, the last of February, in an 
unfinished church — the second one begun in New England— when 
he heard the news, joyful news to a solitary laborer: "Help was 
coming." He describes the occasion: 

Just before the time of meeting a friend informed me that there were three 
preachers coming from a distance to labor with me in New England. I was greatly- 
pleased at the report, and my heart seemed to reply, " Blessed is he that cometh 
in the name of the Lord." When I saw them riding up I stood and looked at 
them, and could say from my heart, " Thou hast well done, that thou art come." 
Jacob Brush, an elder, and George Roberts and Daniel Smith, two young preachers, 
came from Maryland, to assist me in this part of the world. No one knows, but 
God and myself, what comfort and joy I felt at their arrival. 

Leaving the two circuits that he had organized in charge of 
these recruits — not quite an average of three members to each — 
Lee himself made a long excursion through the States of Massa- 
chusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and back again to Con- 
necticut. His eye was fixed on Boston, where he arrived July, 
1790. For several days he sought for a preaching-place, but no 
door was opened to him. Boston was not conscious of wanting 
any thing in the way of religious instruction that a Methodist 
and an Arminian would offer. 

After spending a week trying to find a place to preach, and 
being refused on every side, he borrowed a table, and placing it 
under the old elm near the center of the Common, he mounted it 
and began to sing and pray with a congregation of four persons : 
at the close of service it had increased to three thousand. The 
next Sabbath he repeated the experiment; but he did not effect a 
permanent footing, and passed on to Lynn, Newburyport, and 
Portsmouth. On his return, he tried Boston again, and had to 
resort to the old stand on the Common. On making another 
evangelizing tour, he returned to Boston, where he spent four 
weeks ; but every house was closed against him. It was on the 
verge of winter and the Common was deserted, save by those who 
hurried across it, wrapped in cloaks, to their warm, cozy homes. 
Sad and weary, he sat down to ponder on what should next be done. 
In the midst of these discouragements, aggravated by an empty 
purse, he received a letter from a gentleman in Lynn, inviting him 
to his house. This was a ray of light; he went, letter in hand, to 
Lynn, and was cordially received. Here he preached the first 
Methodist sermon ever delivered in that town, and, February 20, 



426 



History of Methodism. 



1791, formed a Society of eight members, whicli was increased 
to seventy in three months. The 14th of June they began to 
build the first Methodist church in Massachusetts, and dedicated 
it on the 26th: a mere wooden shell, but better than nothing. 
Making Lynn his head-quarters, Lee sallied forth in all directions, 
not overlooking Boston. 

Extemporaneous preaching, like every thing else that pertained 
to Methodism, vvas misunderstood. It was represented not as 
preaching without reading, but preaching without preparation. 
It pleased the people, but was a novelty and a stumbling-block to 
the parsons. One of them consented that Lee might preach in 
his church on condition that he should select the text and present 
it after Lee had entered the pulpit. To this he agreed. The 
matter was noised through the village, and the house was crowd- 
ed to witness the discomfiture of the new-comer. The intro- 
ductory services over, the minister handed Lee the text. It was 
Numbers xxii. 21: "And Balaam rose up in the morning, and sad- 
dled his ass." The parson composed himself in his seat with a 
look of grim satisfaction. Being well acquainted with the story 
of Balaam, Lee proceeded at once to describe his character, des- 
canting largely on his avarice and love of the wages of unright- 
eousness, denouncing in severe language the baseness of the man 
who could use the prophetic office as a means of gain, and could 
endanger the very souls of the people of Israel, for the sake of 
the wages which Balak offered. He then proceeded to describe 
the oppressed, enslaved, and pitiable condition of the ass ; spoke 
affectingly of the patience of the creature under burdens, and 
spurs, and whippings, and abuses ; said the ass usually endured 
without complaining at the abuse heaped on him. Indeed, ex- 
cept the one in the history of Balaam, there had never been an 
instance of an ass speaking and expostulating under ill treatment. 
He alluded to the saddle, and described how galling it might 
become, especially under the weight of a large, fat, heavy man. 
At this point he cast a knowing look at the minister, a corpulent 
person. Having gone through with an exposition of the subject, 
he proceeded to the application. He said the idea might be new 
to them — it had never struck him till the text v/as given him ; but 
he thought Balaam might be considered a type and representa- 
tive of their minister. Balaam's ass, in many respects, reminded 
him of themselves, the congregation of that town; and the saddle 



Ashurij in New England. 



427 



bound on the poor ass, by cords and girts, evidently represeiited 
the minister's salary fastened on them by taxation. Its galling 
and oppressive influence they had often felt; in some instances, 
as he had been informed, the last and only cow of a poor man 
with a large family had been taken and sold to pay for the salary 
of the well-fed incumbent of the saddle. 

After this specimen of his skill in extempore sermons, the 
demand for the article from that quarter ceased. 

He could tell where the preachers of the standing order abused 
him most, by the size of his congregations; for, in spite of their 
prejudices, the traditional curiosity of the people brought them 
out to see and hear the much-abused " itinerant peddler " of per- 
nicious dogmas. Abuse him they did, frequently, and v/arn the 
people against being partakers of his " damnable heresies.", Nov/ 
and then a deacon superior to the rest opened his house for the 
itinerant, for which, says Lee, he v^ould be " much buffeted." 

Such treatment could not damp the ardor of the evangelist. 
Upon a chilling reception he exclaims: " I bless God that he keeps 
my spirits up under all my discouragements! If the Lord did 
not comfort me in hoping against hope, or believing against ap- 
pearances, I should depart from the work in this part of the 
world; but I still wait to see the salvation of the Lord." 

Lee and his fellow-laborers extended their travels in many di- 
rections, so that five circuits v/ere mapped out on the Minutes in 
the following year. Nearly two hundred souls had been united 
in classes — a large number, if we consider the obstacles vvhicli 
obstructed every movement of the f ev/ laborers in the field. Two 
chapels had been begun and were in .condition to be used. At 
Conference (New York) Lee had a protracted interview with 
Bishop Asbury, who not only promised him more help but a 
visit next summer. Accordingly, in 1791, we find him for the 
first time on a tour through New England. On the 9th of June 
he arrived at New Haven, the famous seat of learning, and his 
appointment to preach having been published in the newspapers, 
he had the honor of the President of Yale College, some of the 
faculty and students, and a feAv prominent citizens, to hear him. 
They all listened respectfully, but their coolness, as compared 
with the warm hospitality to which he had been accustomed on 
his episcopal journeys in the Middle and Southern States, led 
him to make the following entry in his journal: 



428 



Histonj of Methodism. 



I talked away to them very fast. AVlien I had done no man spoke to me. I 
thought to-day of dear Mr. Whitefield's words to Mr. Boardman and Mr. Pihnoor 
at their first coming over to America: "Ah!" said he, "if ye were Calrinists, ye 
would take the country before ye." We visited the college chapel at the hour of 
prayer; I wished to go through the whole, to inspect the interior arrangements, 
but no one invited me. Tlie divines were grave, and the students were attentive; 
they used me like a fellow-Christian in coming to hear me preach, and like a 
stranger in other respects. Should Cokesbury or Baltimore ever furnish the op- 
portunity, I in my turn will requite their behavior by treating them as friends, 
brothers, and gentlemen. The difficulty I met with in Xew Haven for lodging 
and for a place to hold meeting made me feel and know the worth of Methodists 
more than ever." 

The first conference in New England was held in Lynn, Angiisfc, 
1792. Eight preachers were present besides xlsbmy. Of course 
Jesse Lee rejoices at the ]Drogress. Hope Hull has come up from 
Georgia to help him. 

Boston yielded at last. Lee records the date : " On the 13th day 
of July, 1792, we joined a few in Society, and after a short time 
they began to increase in numbers. AYe met with uncommon 
difficulties here from the beginning, for -the want of a convenient 
house to preach in. We began in private houses, and could sel- 
dom keep possession of them long. The Society then undertook 
to get them a meeting-house, but being poor, and but few in num- 
ber, they could do but little." Three years later the corner-stone 
of their fi.rst chapel was laid. 

Having established Societies at Middletown and Hartford, 
Boston and Lynn, and the surrounding country, Lee pushed next 
his outposts over into the Province of Maine, then a part of Mas- 
sachusetts, consisting chiefly of dense forests, with a narrow fringe 
of settlements along the sea-coast and a few towns on the rivers in 
the interior. Providing himself with two good horses, which he 
tired out by turns, he explored this new country in all directions, 
and organized a circuit west of the Kennebec Eiver, which he 
called Eeadfield, where the first conference in the Province of 
Maine was held in 1798. In this distant field he had among his 
hearers a rustic lad who was destined to be heard from in the 
history and development of Methodism. 

Joshua Soule was born in Bristol, Maine, August 1, 1781, the 
fifth son of Joshua Soule, who was the eldest son of Joseph Soule, 
a descendant of George Soule, one of the Pilgrim Fathers who 
came over in the Mayflower. His father was captain of a mer- 



First Circuit in Maine — Joshua Soule. 



429 



chant vessel, and would liave continued in a sea-faring life but 
for the loss of his vessels during the Eevolationary War. After 
this he devoted himself to the pursuit of agriculture, remov- 
ing to Avon, a new settlement on the Sandy River, while Joshua 
was an infant in his mother's arms. He remarked to a friend: 
"They say I was born in the State of Maine; but I was a pre- 
siding elder before Maine was erected into a State. I was born 
in the State of Massachusetts — province, or district, of Maine. 

His parents were rigid Calvinists. Joshua feared the Lord 
from his youth. Among his playmates and school-fellows he 
was called "the deacon." He never knew when he could not 
read. He read the Bible much, which kept alive those awaken- 
ings of which he never knew the beginning. Jesse Lee, in 1793, 
preached in his father's neighborhood and formed the first cir- 
cuit in tJiose parts, extending from Hallowell to Sandy Eiver. 
There being no meeting-house of the people called Methodists 
then, a private house, about a mile and a half from the Soule 
residence, was both the preacher's home and chapel. 

There Joshua attended, and heard Jesse Lee— the first Meth- 
odist x)reacher he ever saw or heard — Thomas Cope, Philip Wag- 
ger, and their successors, and found that he could assent to the 
view of the gospel which they presented. His mind had re- 
volted at Calvinism. The opposite doctrine and its experience 
suited him "sentimentally." He found it in his intuitions, drew 
it from the Bible, and had met with it in books. 

One morning, before sunrise, he awoke and as usual went out 
to pray. For the first time, the witness of the Spirit was vouch- 
safed to him. The sun rose on his joy. A new heaven and a new 
earth smiled around. The peace that passeth all understanding 
overflowed his soul. 

He was minded to join the Church, and inclination and duty 
drew him to the Methodists. As a dutiful son — in his sixteenth 
year — he consulted his parents. His father was mortified, and 
tried to dissuade him from ever going among those people 
again. As for his mother, she wept sore and remonstrated, de- 
claring that if he took that step she regarded her son as ruined 
— she wished he had never heard of a Methodist. 

Without acting hastily, he reviewed the matter, but abode in 
the same conclusion. Duty seemed to be clear, though the way 
* Funeral-services in Christian Advocate (Xasliville), March 14, 1867. 



430 



History of Methodism. 



was painful. His own acconnt is: "Before taking the final step, 
I had my father and mother apart, and laid the whole matter be- 
fore them. With mnch respect, and many tears, I told them my 
convictions; and besides, requested them to name a single in- 
stance in which I had ever disobeyed them. But now I felt it 
my solemn duty to unite with the Methodist Church, and to gain 
their consent and approval would afford me more hapijiness than 
any thing else in the world." 

His father's mortification grew toward indignation at the firm 
proposal; and as for his mother, she pleaded T\ith him in tears, 
and used every entreaty to turn him aside. "It cost me some- 
thing," he continued, "to be a Methodist — I became one fully ex- 
pecting to be an exile from my father's house. Twice in my life 
have I been brought to a stand. Twice have my faith and resolu- 
tion been put to the test — but I decided in both cases in the fear 
of God, and with reference to my accountability at his bar." 

His heart was fixed and the step was taken, and contrary to 
expectation his parents ceased to oppose him; but he went alone 
to his meetings. Scarcely any thing was ever said about them. 
He joined the Church at one of the week-day meetings, to the 
joy and surprise of the neighbors. 

One day, as the plow-teams were resting at a turning-place, his 
father passing near him, Joshua said: "Father, a distinguished 
man is to preach this afternoon. Will you go and hear him?" 
The father answered: "No, I have heard one or two of them; 
they are all alike — enthusiasts, and don't know how to preach." 
The son replied with deference, "Does your law judge a man 
before it hears him?" To which there was no answer. But 
evidently the old Captain was put to thinking. He was a man 
of decision, and had taught his children to be so too — but first, 
to be right. The noon hour, the unhitching and feeding time, 
came. After dinner, quite to Joshua's surprise, his father or- 
dered two horses to be saddled, and went with his Methodist 
boy to the Methodist meeting. 

Cyi-us Stebbins, the preacher, excelled himself tliat day. Great 
as were the issues pending, and the solicitude felt by one of his 
hearers, at least, the preacher rose equal to the occasion. His 
text was the vision of dry bones ( Ezek. xxxvii. 10). The elder 
Soule was all attention. There was power in the word. Preach- 
ing over, and the congregation dismissed, Joshua asked his fa- 



The Soule Fainihj Become Metliodists. 



431 



ther if he would allow liim to introduce him to the minister. He 
not only assented, but, to Joshua's equal astonishment and de- 
light, asked the preacher to go home with him ; and the invita- 
tion was accepted. 

" Knowing my father's prejudices," he says^ " I had my fears. 
He was a thoughtful man, and had read much in theology, and 
he considered the argument for Calvinism unanswerable. Al- 
ready I saw a controversy in store; so I made it convenient to 
drop behind as the company rode along, and have a word with 
the preacher, putting him on his guard as to what was required 
and expected of him." 

Supjjer over, the debate began in earnest, and Joshua was not 
an inattentive listener. It was prolonged till one o'clock next 
morning. He trembled for Stebbins once or twice, but the " cir- 
cuit rider," well up in "Fletcher's Checks," brought forth truth 
unto victory. " With pleasure I saw my father hemmed in ; he 
could go no farther. He was a candid man, and confessed him- 
self foiled." 

Prayer had been offered evening and morning, and as the 
preacher was taking leave, the solitary young Methodist could 
hardly believe his own ears when he heard his father invite him 
to make his house a stopping-place, and as it was larger than the 
one where meetings had heretofore been held, to move the circuit- 
preaching to his house ! It was done. The notice was given, and 
the next appointment was a crowded one. Stebbins again had 
unction from on high and was equal to the occasion. All the 
neighbors were there, among them two or three Baptist preach- 
ers, and it was a day of the Son of man. 

In less than six months after Joshua had joined the Method- 
ists, his father and mother, and two older brothers, and two sis- 
ters, were numbered with them. His father was an official mem- 
ber till the day of his death. 

So early did he begin to show qualities that made him a leader 
among men, a veritable Joshua, a captain of the Lord's host. 

His call to preach was not attended by that conflict which 
is so common. He believed in a call to the ministry, by the 
Spirit. His account was brief : " The Lord called me to preach, 
and I went." June, 1799, he was admitted into the traveling 
connection, and appointed to Portland Circuit, in Maine. In 
1804 he was presiding elder of the district, which embraced the 



432 



History of Methodism. 



whole territory of the present State. He filled this office two 
years; and so successful was the Church during this period that 
in 1806 a new district was formed called Kennebec. On this 
district he was employed in 1806 and 1807. The succeeding four 
years were spent on the Portland District. 

This brings him into the broader field and service of the en- 
tire Connection. He comes forward — a figure and an influence 
not to be lost sight of for the next half century. No grander 
man, or more exemplary Christian, or more useful bishop, has 
appeared in Methodism. His majestic form and bearing, and 
his finely chiseled features, with expression in every line, could 
not fail to arrest attention and command deference from civilized 
or savage men, who saw 

The elements 
So mixed in liim tliat Xatnre might stand up 
And say to all the "svorld, " This is a man ! " 

Perhaps no one was ever more thoroughly attached to the 
Wesleyan system of doctrine and discipline than Joshua Soule. 
He loved Methodism because of its scriptural character, its ag- 
gressive power, and its diffusive spirit. He loved its simple the- 
ology, its sublime psalmody, its decent forms — for which, indeed, 
he was somewhat of a stickler — and its elevated standard of ex- 
perimental and practical piety. His own personal religious 
character was formed upon it. And when he drew near his end, 
he rejoiced in the belief that it was renewing its youth, and 
going forth afresh like a strong man to run a race. 

The history of American Methodism cannot be written, even 
by unfriendly partisans, without making honorable mention of 
his name, or leaving a wide gap that cannot be filled; for in ad- 
dition to his power as a gospel preacher, he possessed the " plain, 
heroic magnitude of mind," which shows its preeminence chiefly 
in affairs. He died in Nashville, March 6, 1867. His junior 
colleague, who closed his eyes, gives an account of the last hours 
of this eventful life: 

There were no transports; but quietness and assm-ance and tranquillity marked 
the final hours. There -were no fears, no gloomy uncertainties, no trepidations. 
He knew in whom lie had believed. He had committed the keeping of soul and 
body to One who is faithful, and there he rested. 

A little before midnight: ''Bishop, is all clear before you?" Softly hie an- 
swered, "Yes, yes." "Do you understand me, Bishop?" "I do, sir." 



Joshua Soule — Wilbur Fisk — Elijah Hedding. 



433 



About one o'clock he seemed to be passing under the cloud and disappearing; 
I said, "Is all right, still?" Then for the last time did he throw that peculiar 
emphasis upon his words, "All right, sir; all right." 

At intervals we gave him water, which he swallowed with an appearance of 
thirst. Soon after drinking it, about two o'clock, when his voice, though feeble, 
Avas distinct, seeing him cross his hands on his breast, I asked, "Are you praying?" 
He replied, "Not now," and never spake more. 

I was surprised at these words ; they were not what I expected, for I knew he 
understood me and meant what he said. But as I looked on him lying there, and 
thought on the words "not now," they began to appear right, very right. His 
work was done; the night had come when no man can work. The servant who 
has loitered away the day begins to be very busy when the shadows lengthen. 
There is such a thing as having nothing to do but to die. Woe to the man who 
has his praying to do and his dying at the same time ! He that believeth shall 
not make haste. Isot praying now; that was done with, and the time for praising 
would soon set in. Like a ship, brave and stanch, that has weathered the storms 
and buffeted the waves, the voyage is ended; it nears the land, the busy wheels 
cease their revolutions, and under the headway and momentum already acquired, 
it glides to the anchorage. 

Yermont furnished a Methodist not so forceful in character, 
or so lofty in leadership, as Joshua Soule, but of finer fiber and 
gentler mold — Wilbur Fisk. As a well-poised and well-rounded 
man, great in all good directions, his superior has not been seen 
in the pulpits and councils of the Church. Every soul, while in 
the body, must be born and live in some section, and to that ex- 
tent is sectional; but Wilbur Fisk's altitude and breadth enabled 
him to see both sides of every question, and to take -in both par- 
ties of every discussion, that concerned Methodism, in his day. 
He lived for many years in the enjoyment of "perfect love;" 
exemplifying a AYesleyan doctrine in experience, while with the 
pen of Fletcher he fought the doctrinal battles with a new type 
of Calvinism and Universalism which Lee had left for his learned 
successors to finish up. More than any other man, he quickened 
and shaped his Church in the direction of higher Christian edu- 
cation; and if Asbury never enjoyed at Cokesbury his sweet and 
lawful revenge on the New Haven professors, he might have had 
it at Middletown, under Wilbur Fisk. He died in 1838; and it is 
hard to realize that a man of feeble health sliould have done such 
a work and acquired such a just fame, living but forty-six years. 

Hard work and poor pay was the rule of itinerant life in the 
West;, and the planting of Methodism in the East formed no ex- 
ception. Take a page from the experience of Elijah Hedding, 
28 



434 



History of Methodism. 



who though not a native New Englander became one by adop- 
tion, the year Lee invaded that region. His awakening began 
at an after-sermon class-meeting, old style, held by Benjamin 
Abbott, under whose ministry his mother had been brought into 
the Church. Having gone round the class, Abbott ai^proached 
the nine-year-old boy: "Well, do you think you are a sinner?" 
"Yes, sir." Then with a pretty heavy emphasis the preacher 
concluded: "There 's many a boy in hell not as old as you are." 
This frightened him, and as Elijah Hedding testifies, "produced 
real religious concern, as I doubt not it was accompanied by the 
operation of God's Spirit?" At fifteen, being a good reader, he 
read one of Wesley's sermons, at the prayer-meetings. At 
eighteen, during a religious meeting, he " received religious com- 
fort," and gave his name as a probationer; "not having a clear 
consciousness of his acceptance and conversion." He adds: 
"About six weeks after this, while conversing with a brother 
about the witness of the Spirit, the light of the Spirit broke in 
upon my mind as clear and perceptible as the sun when it comes 
from behind a cloud, testifying that I was born of God; and it 
was done at the time before named, when my guilt was removed 
and I found peace in believing." At nineteen, though only an 
exhorter, he began his ministry by supplying a circuit which 
Lorenzo Dow had left to go "ranging;" for among the fruits of 
Lee's ministry in Connecticut, was that unique character. 

Elijah Hedding endured hardness the first ten years of his 
circuit-riding. RevieAving these years he says: 

I have averaged over three thousand miles' travel a year, and preached, on an 
average, a sermon a day, since I commenced the itinerant life. During that period 
I have traveled circuits that joined each other, through a tract of country begin- 
ning near Troy, New York, and going north into Canada; thence east through 
Vermont and New Hampshire; and thence southerly, through Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, and Connecticut, to Long Island Sound. I have never in this time 
owned a traveling vehicle, but have ridden on horseback, except occasionally in 
winter when I have borrowed a sleigh, and also in a few instances when I have 
traveled by public conveyance or in a borrowed carriage. I have both labored 
hard and fared hard. Much of the time I have done missionary work without 
missionary money. Until recently I have had no dwelling-place or home, but as 
a wayfaring man lodged from night to night where hospitality and friendship 
opened the way. In most of these regions the Methodists were few and compar- 
atively poor. I was often obliged to depend on i30or people for food and lodging 
and horse-keeping; and though in general they provided for me cheerfully and 
willingly, yet I often felt that I was taking what they needed for their children, 



Groidh in the East. 



435 



and that my horse Avas eating what they needed for their own beasts. I often suf- 
fered great trials of mind on this account, and have traveled many a day without 
dinner, because I had not a quarter of a dollar that I could spare to buy it. 

His average pay was about forty-five dollars a year; and one 
year lie received, exclusive of traveling expenses, three dollars 
and twenty-five cents ! The first year he was on the New Hamp- 
shire District (1807) he received four dollars and twenty-five 
cents! He says: "My pantaloons were often patched upon the 
knees, and the sisters showed their kindness by turning an old 
coat for me! " Authentic reports from the preachers of the New 
England Conference, from 1800 to 1805, show that the annual 
receipts of each of them did not average seventy dollars, includ- 
ing all presents, and that the aggregate sum paid to all of them, 
numbering about twenty-five, in each of these years, was less 
than the amount now received by one minister stationed in some 
of the Methodist churches in cities, where Jesse Lee effected a 
grudging entrance, as a man drives a wedge into a hard log.* 

In June, 1810, the Rev. Henry Boehm, accompanying the Bish- 
op, attended a session of the New England Conference: 

There was a camp-meeting held in connection with it, about three miles distant, 
and they had preaching there three times a day during its session. On Sunday, 
the 10th, Bishop Asbury preached with life and energy ; after which six deacons 
and twelve elders were ordained. There were about hfteen hundred persons pres- 
ent. Six sermons were preached that day. 

On Monday morning, after the bishops, Asbury and McKendree, had delivered 
their valedictory addresses, which were distinguished for appropriateness and pa- 
thos. Bishop Asbury read off the appointments for eighty-seven preachers, who all 
went cheerfully to their work in the spirit of their Master. 

On the 16th, Bishop Asbury, George Pickering, and myself went to Boston, and 
were the guests of Elijah Sabin, the stationed preacher. The new chapel was 
greatly in debt, and Brother Pickering had been South soliciting funds; and yet 
such were the pressing wants of the Church that Bishop Asbury wrote five letters 
supplicating a collection for the new chapel — nameh', to Baltimore, Georgetown, 
Alexandria, Norfolk, and Charleston ; and I believe they all responded. 

In 1832 the presiding elder of the New Haven District wrote 
that its territory was then almost entirely included in Lee's second 
circuit, organized in 1789 and compassed by the itinerant every 
two weeks. It contained fifteen circuits and stations, employed 
thirty-four traveling preachers, had between thirty and forty 
local preachers, six thousand members, and fifty chapels.f 

^American Methodism, by Eev. M. L. Scudder, D.D. f Letter of Kev. Heman 
Bangs, quoted in Stevens's History of the M. E. Church. 



436 



History of Methodism. 



Having spent eight years in New England, he takes a wider field. 
The Minntes for 1797, 1798, and 1799 say: "Jesse Lee, travels with 
Bishop Asbury." This brought him, in the Bishop's absence on 
account of sickness, to preside in the Conference of 1797, at Wil- 
braham. He loved to \isit it. In 1808 he found six districts, 
presided over by such men as John Broadhead, Elijah B. Sabin, 
Thomas Branch, Elijah Hedding, Joshua Soule, and Oliver Beale. 
He also found eight thousand eight hundred and sixty-one mem- 
bers. Martin Enter w^as stationed at Boston with over three 
hundred and forty members, all of whom received him as their 
father. He passed on to Lynn, to be greeted by Dan Young, the 
pastor, and one hundred and seventy members. A crowd at- 
tended him everywhere, so that the churches could not accom- 
modate them. He spent forty-three days in Maine, and preached 
forty-seven sermons. Hurrying to New Hampshire, he preached 
seven farewell sermons in less than a week, and about the same 
number in less time in Connecticut. 

Though so unwelcome, Methodism was nowhere more needed 
than in New England. The reaction from high Calvinism to 
Unitarianism and Bationalism was going on at its advent, and 
the evil was modified by its influence. Effete and dead forms of 
worship received an infusion of new life. Into a region of great 
mental activity an element entered restraining and sanctifying, 
which, though not acknowledged by the self-satisfied philoso- 
phers, has nevertheless been felt. A party, not small in numbers 
or influence, had arisen, contending that if a man were educated 
for it the lack of conversion was no bar to his entrance upon 
the ministry. Whitefield numbered over twenty ministers con- 
verted under his preaching. If sharp assailants of the faith 
have issued from New England, so have strong defenders. 

In 1809 Lee was chosen chaplain to Congress, an office which 
he held until 1815, and then resigned. His death occurred in 
September, 1816, at the age of fifty-eight; and his grave, in 
Mount Olivet Cemetery, Baltimore, was honored with an elegant 
shaft of Scotch granite, erected by the second generation of his 
spiritual children in Boston. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

The Valley of the Mississippi : Occupying it — Gate-way to the North-west and the 
South-west — Indian Troubles — Asbury Crossing the Wilderness — Bethel Acad- 
emy — Kentucky — Tennessee — Three Local Preachers Shaping Ohio — Mission- 
aries — McHenry, Burke, Wilkerson, Page, Tobias Gibson, Valentine Cook. 

TIHE occupancy of the Yalley of the Mississippi by the gos- 
pel was the great problem for the American Church. The 
wave of revival that rolled back from the West to the East, at 
the close of the last century, was evidence of the extent of the 
fQovement and of the divine forces at work there. 

Besides the vices naturally engendered in the rapid settlement 
of a new country, where the hope of wealth is excited by rich 
lands, and the revengeful passions are stirred by a sense of dan- 
ger from a lingering but weakening foe, the West had to encoun- 
ter the peril of a bold infidelity. The French Kevolution was 
popular. The American people remembered France as their late 
ally, and regarded her as a sister republic contending for freedom 
against banded despots. " The terrible energy which the French 
Republic displayed against such fearful odds, the haughty crest 
with which she confronted her enemies, and repelled them from 
her frontier at every point, presented a spectacle well calculated 
to dazzle the friends of democracy throughout the world." 
France had embraced infidelity. The Bible there had been re- 
pudiated, and death declared to be "an eternal sleep; " and athe- 
ism was openly professed among all classes of society. The moral 
effect of all this was felt in the hunting-camps and in the log-cabins 
of Kentucky and Tennessee. The writings of Paine, Voltaire, 
and such like, intended to sa^^ the foundations of Christianity, 
were sown broadcast through the land. Not only did their sen- 
timents find favor with the masses of the people, but many, hold- 
ing high positions of public trust, and belonging to the more 
influential walks of life, imbibed these doctrines, and openly 
avowed their disbelief in the word of God. 

While the leaven of infidelity was working, the testimony of 
a competent witness, who was reared amid the vigorous scenes 
of this Western life, shows why Methodism had a special call to 
counteract it: "To add to the darkness of the moral horizon, 

(437) 



438 



Histonj of Methodism, 



most of the Churches had sunk into mere formality, so that the 
doctrine of the new birth — implying that radical change of 
heart which brings with it the evidence of pardon and adoption 
— was quite ignored or totally repudiated. The dogmas of elec- 
tion and reprobation, predestination and decrees, were the themes 
of the pulpit; and they rather confirmed than weakened the 
Ijopular disposition to reject revelation. The masses considered 
such doctrines a slander upon God's justice, as well as upon his 
goodness, and concluded that if the Bible afforded such views of 
Jehovah it could not be true." ^ 

Francis Clark, a local preacher, was the pioneer of Methodism 
in Kentucky. As early as 1783, accompanied by John Durham, 
a class-leader, and others of his neighbors, he left Virginia, and# 
settled in Mercer county, and organized a class, the first in the 
far West, about six miles from Danville. " He was a man," says 
a chronicler of the time, " of sound judgment, and well instructed 
in the doctrines of the Church. As a preacher he was successful 
in forming several societies, and lived many years to rejoice in 
the success of the cause that he had been the instrument, under 
God, of commencing in the wilderness. He died at his own home, 
the last year of the century, in great peace, and in hope of a 
blessed immortality." William J. Thompson also emigrated at 
an early day from North Carolina, and settled in the same neigh- 
borhood. A useful local preacher, he afterward joined the trav- 
eling connection in the Western Conference; and moving to the 
State of Ohio, became connected with the Ohio Conference, 
where his labors and usefulness are held in remembrance by 
many. Other local preachers and faithful laymen came and set- 
tled in Jessamine and Fayette and Nelson counties.f 

The first itinerants sent out in 1786, Haw and Ogden, were re- 
enforced by transfers as needed. Peter Massie was converted and 
brought into the ministry by the missionaries. He was styled 
" the weeping prophet." One who knew him well, says: " I heard 
him preach the gospel frequently, and I do not think I ever heard 
him but when tears rolled down his manly cheeks, while he warned 
the people to flee from the wrath to come." 

In 1787 Kentucky District was divided into two circuits, one 
of which still bore the name of Kentucky. James Haw was re- 



■^Eev. Jonathan- Stamper, in Home Circle, Yol. I. fEedford's History of 
Methodism in Kentucky. 



Baptists and Preshyterians First in Kentuchy. 439 



turned as elder. Thomas Williamson and Wilson Lee were ap- 
pointed to one circuit; the other was called Cumberland, to 
which Benjamin Ogden was appointed. The Cumberland Circuit 
embraced the country now known as Middle Tennessee, and a 
small portion o£ Southern Kentucky. The Kentucky Circuit in- 
cluded the whole of the District of Kentucky, except that part 
embraced in the Cumberland. Francis Poythress, in 1788, su- 
perseded Haw, and was henceforth in charge of the district until 
his overworked body and mind gave way. 

The hard Church laws of Yirginia had massed the Baptists 
and Presbyterians west of the Blue Bidge, where they were com- 
paratively free from exactions and ]Dersecutions. They were 
ready to pour over into Kentucky, so soon as that fertile territory 
was opened, and to occupy it. Bev. David Bice immigrated to 
Kentucky from Yirginia in 1783, and settled in Mercer county. 
Previous to this date small bodies of Presbyterians had settled 
in the neighborhoods of Danville and Cane Bun, and in 1786 
the Presbytery of Transylvania was organized. 

As early as 1776 the Bev. William Hickman came from Yir- 
ginia on a tour of observation, and devoted much of his time to 
preaching the gospel. He was perhaps the first preacher of any 
denomination to lift the standard of the cross on " the dark and 
bloody ground." Other Baptist ministers soon followed him, and 
the Baptist Church was organized in 1781, near Lancaster. One 
of the first governors of the State was a Baptist minister — Grarrard. 

In the spring of 1790, Bishop Asbury extended his travels to 
Kentucky, when, for the first time, an Annual Conference was 
held there. He was accompanied by Bichard Whatcoat and Hope 
Hull. The Conference commenced 15th of May, at Mas- 
terson's Station, five miles north-west of Lexington, where the 
first Methodist church in Kentucky — a plain log structure — was 
erected. Two years before, Asbury had crossed the mountains 
to meet a Conference in the Holston Yalley; nov/, he must cross 
a wilderness beyond that. The first trip involved labor and 
fatigue; the last, these and more. April 6th, he says: " I received 
a faithful letter from Brother Poythress in Kentucky, encourag- 
ing me to come. Now it is we must prepare for danger in go- 
ing through the wilderness." Besting at General Bussell's, and 
recruiting; preaching in the Nollichucky and Clinch and Holston 
valleys, which seem now to become a starting-point, he waits for 



uo 



Histcn/ of Method ism. 



an escort that is to guide and protect evangelists on the journey: 
"May 3. — Sabbath night I dreamed the guard from Kentucky 
came for me ; and mentioned it to Brother AVhatcoat. In the morn- 
ing I retired to a small stream for meditation and prayer, and whilst 
there saw two men come over the hills; I felt a presumption that 
they were Kentucky men, and so they proved to be; they were 
Peter Massie and John Clark, who were coming for me, with the 
intelligence that they had left eight men below; after reading the 
letters, and asking counsel of God, I consented to go with them." 

The company, mustering sixteen men with thirteen guns, 
"moved on very swiftly, considering the roughness of the way." 
On the seventh day of their journey, iliQj reached Eichmond, 
the county-seat of Madison county, and three days afterward, 
Lexington. The Bishop says: "I was strangely outdone for 
want of sleep, having been greatly deprived of it in my joiu^ney 
through the wilderness — which is like being at sea in some re- 
spects, and in others worse. Our way is over mountains, steep 
hills, deep rivers, and muddy creeks — a thick growth of reeds 
for miles together, and no inhabitants but wild beasts and savage 
men. I slept about an hour the first night, and about two the 
last. We ate no regular meals; our bread grew short, and I was 
much spent." 

On the road-side they saw the graves of twenty-four travelers 
who, a short time before, had been massacred by the Indians. 
We quote from the Bishop's journal: 

May 13. — Being court time, I preached in a dwelling-lionse at Lexington, and 
not -without some feeling. The Methodists do but little here — others lead the way. 
Our Conference was held at Brother Masterson's, a very comfortable house, and 
kind people. We went through oiu' business in great love and harmony. I or- 
dained "Wilson Lee, Thomas Williamson, and Barnabas McHenry, elders. We 
had preaching noon and night, and souls were converted, and the fallen restored. 
My soul has been blessed among these people, and I am exceedingly pleased with 
them. I would not, for the wortli of all the place, have been prevented in this 
visit, having no doubt but that it will be for the good of the present and rising- 
generation. It is true, such exertions of mind and body are trying; but I am sup- 
ported under it — if souls are saved, it is enough. Brother Poythress is much alive 
to God. We fixed a plan for a school, and called it Bethel; and obtained a sub- 
scription of upward of £300, in land and money, toward its establishment, 

A new name is here introduced, and one identified with West- 
ern Methodism. Referring to the early ministers who opened 
and subdued the wilderness, the late Bishop Bascom said: "They 



Bascom on Barnabas McHenry. 



441 



labored, suffered, triumphed, in obscurity and want. No admir- 
ing populace to clieer tliem on; no feverish community gazetted 
them into fame. Principle alone sustained them, and their glory 
was that of action." In his commanding personal appearance 
and influence, in the order of his talents, and the grace and pow- 
er that accompanied his ministry, Barnabas McHenry was emi- 
nent. He was born in ^vlorth Carolina, 1767. In the twentieth 
year of his age he entered on his itinerant career. His first 
appointment was to the Yadkin Circuit. He spent the following 
year in Kentucky, and after efficient, self-denying toil, on circuits 
and districts, died of cholera in 1833. The venerable Jacob 
Young's autobiography, describing an occasion, says: "The most 
distinguished man I met was B. McHenry. He was a man by 
himself." Dr. Bascom published a monograph of this man who 
did much to stimulate and direct his own mind. He describes 
his preaching as mainly expository and didactic: 

The whole style of his preaching denoted the confidence of history and expe- 
rience. All seemed to be real and personal to him. The perfect simplicity, and 
yet clear, discriminating accuracy of his manner and language made the impres- 
sion that he was speaking only of what he knew to be true. He spoke of every 
thing as of a natural scene before him. There was an intensity of conception, a 
sustained sentiment of personal interest, which gave one a feeling of wonder and 
awe in listening to him. You could not doubt his right to guide and teach. One 
felt how safe and proper it was to follow such leading. His style was exceedingly 
rich without being showy. There was no effervescence. It was not the garden 
and landscape in bloom, but in early bud, giving quiet but sure indication of fruit 
and foliage. His language was always accurate, well chosen, strong, and clear. 
All his sermons, as delivered, were in this respect fit for tlic press — not only re- 
markably free from error on tlie score of thought, but from defect and fault of style 
and language. His whole manner, too, was natural, dignined, and becoming. 
Good taste and sound judgment were his main mental characteristics. Of imagi- 
nation proper he had but little, and still less of fancy. Eeason, fitness, and beauty 
Avere the perceptions by which he was influenced. The intrinsic value of things 
alone attracted him. The outward show of things made little or no impression 
upon him, under any circumstances. The inner man — the hidden things of the 
heart — controlled him in all his judgments and preferences.^ 

In the bend of Kentucky River, Mr. Lewis, an old Leesburg 
acquaintance, welcomed the Bishop, and offered one hundred 
acres of land for the site of Bethel College. 

"Had a noble shout at Brown's — four souls converted," says 
his journal. " Reached the Crab Orchard, and lodged under a 



^ Editorial in the Southern Methodist Quarterly Review, Vol. III. 



442 



Hisforu of 3Iethodisw. 



tree" preparatory to recrcssiiig the wilderness; "liad about fifty 
people in the company — twenty were armed, and five might have 
stood fire." They make for Cumberland Gap: 

To preserve order and harmony, we had articles draAvn up for and signed by 
our company, and I arranged the people for traveling according to the regulations 
agreed upon. The first night yve lodged some miles beyond the Hazelpatch. The 
next day we discovered signs of Indians, and some thought tliey heard voices; vre 
therefore thought it best to travel on, and did not encamp until three o'clock, halt- 
ing on the east side of Cumberland Eiver. "We had an alarm, but it turned out to 
be a false alarm. Brother Massie was captain; and finding I had gained author- 
ity among the people, I acted somewhat in the capacity of an adjutant and quar- 
termaster amongst them. At the foot of the mountain the company separated; 
the greater part went on with me to Powell's Eiver. 

May 28-30 were sx3ent at General Eussell's, "whose wife is 
converted since I left the house last. I thought then," he adds, 
"that she was not far from the kingdom of God." 

The last day of the month, passing through Xew Eiver Circuit, 
Asbury gets a last view of that noble itinerant who has in four- 
teen years preached the gosi^el in eight out of thirteen States — 
John Tunnell. He is dying of consumption; "a mere shadow, 
but very humble and patient under his affliction." "June 1. — -I 
rode about forty-five miles to Armstrong's, and next day about 
four o'clock reached McKnight's on the Yadkin Eiver, in North 
Carolina; here the Conference had been waiting for me nearly 
two weeks; we rejoiced together, and my brethren received me 
as one brought from the jaws of death." 

Let us leave the field on the Atlantic slope, now everywhere 
being cultivated or laid oft' for cultivation, and return to the Ken- 
tucky District — destined to be the distributing point of labor- 
ers for the North-west and the South-west. 

Mountain ranges did not determine the course and order of the 
westward movement, but Indian tribes. The Church has been 
planted in Georgia, and the Mississij^pi Territory forms the west- 
ern boundary of Georgia ; but the gospel will be carried to Mis- 
sissippi first by way of Tennessee and down the great river; be- 
cause the Creek or Muskogee Indians lie on the direct route be- 
low, and the Choctaws and Cherokees above. The North-western 
Territory will be approached by way of Kentucky, because the 
Miami and Shawnee Indians and confederate tribes north of the 
Ohio hold the country down to the river bank, and make the 
water passage dangerous. Though surrounded on three sides by 



MemorahJe Indian TrouhJes. 



443 



Indian tribes, Kentucky was never claimed or occupied by any 
tribe. It was a common Imnting-gronnd, and on account of 
frequent hostile collisions was called the "Dark and Bloody 
Ground." "Warlike incursions were often made across the front- 
iers; and through the intervening wilderness roving bands of 
Indians for a long time kept a path of communication between 
the tribes on the lower Holston and Tennessee rivers, and those 
dwelling on the Scioto and Miami. This path had to be crossed 
with more or less peril in going from the East to Kentucky. 
There were smaller campaigns, but in 1791 General St. Clair left 
Fort Washington, as the military post was called where Cincinnati 
now is, with an army of two thousand volunteers to subdue and 
break up the Miami Confederacy. A hundred miles north of his 
starting-point, while encamped on a tributary of the Wabash, he 
was surprised by the Indians, under their chief — Little Turtle— 
and after three hours desperate fighting half of his army was 
killed and the remnant barely escaped massacre. This terrible 
disaster threw a gloom over the whole West, and indeed over the 
entire country. President Washington, when the dispatches 
reached him, lost his usual equanimity and exclaimed: "Here, 
in this very room, I took leave of General St. Clair, wishing him 
success and honor! I said to him: 'You have careful instruc- 
tions from the Secretary of War, and I myself will add one word, 
Beirare of a surprise. You know how the Indians ^ght— he i rare 
of a surpi'ise.'' He went off with that, my last warning, ringing 
in his ears; and yet he has suffered that army to be butchered, 
tomahawked, by a surprise. How can he answer to his country? " 

In 1794 General Wayne, called "Mad Anthony," after ineffect- 
ual efforts for peace, led an army of three thousand into the same 
field, and defeated the Miamis, and broke up their confederacy; 
obtained a cession from the chiefs of the present State of Ohio; 
pressed them back into the vast Indiana Territory, with ^^in- 
cennes as Government head-quarters, and exacted other terms 
that gave a general peace. At a later date. General Jackson 
broke the power of the hostile Indian tribes in the South. 
Thenceforth, under the protection of treaties and agencies, emi- 
grants passed through the land, not always without danger; and 
vrhere the emigrant went, the itinerant preacher followed. 

'Virginia having relinquished her claim to its territory, Ken- 
tucky was admitted into the Union as a State in 1792, with 



444 



Hisforij of Methodism. 



seventy-tliree tliousancl iiiliabitants. Xortli Carolina having re- 
linquished her claim to its territory, Tennessee was admitted in 
1796; six years before, the population was thirty-five thousand, 
but it was soon doubled. 

Now the movement to the Xorth-west began. Notwithstand- 
ing the additions during several years by revivals and immigra- 
tions, the Kentucky District, though served by an able and faith- 
ful ministry, hardly held its own. In some places, societies were 
entirely broken up, and in others, only portions were left, by re- 
movals from the State. Large bodies of Methodists from Ken- 
tucky settled in what is now the State of Ohio, in the Mad Eiver 
country, and on the Big and Little Miamis; so that, notwith- 
standing the success that crowned the labors of the preachers, in 
their annual exhibits they often showed a decrease of member- 
ship in their fields of labor. 

Tiie names of Henry Birchett, David Haggard, Samuel Tuck- 
er, and JosexDh Lillard, appear on the roll in this department of 
the work, for the first time, among the appointments made by 
Bishop Asbury on his present visit to the Kentucky District. Jo- 
seph Lillard was a Kentuckian by birth; born near Harrodsburg. 

^Francis Poytliress. Elder: Danville — Thomas AVilliamson. Steplien Brooks; 
Cumlierland — Wilson Lee, James Haw, Peter Massie; Madison — Barnabas Mc- 
Henry. Benjamin Snelling; Limestone — Samuel Tucker, Joseph Lillard : Lexing- 
ton — Henry Birchett. David Haggard. 

Cumberland Circuit lay chiefly in Tennessee. It extended, however, into Ken- 
tucky, and embraced, besides ^Middle Tennessee, what is now known as Logan, War- 
ren, and Simpson counties. B. McHemy, who preached in it next year (^T701\ says : 
" The circuit was a four-week>" circuit. Clarksville. near the mouth of Ked [River, 
was the lower extremity of the circuit, and of the settlement. Sumner Court- 
house was a cabin near Station Camp Creek. The upper end of the circuit was 
the eastern extremity of the settlement near Bledsoe's Lick. The population for 
some miles down consisted of a narroAv string between the river and the ridge. 
Indeed, there was then no population on the south side of Cumberland Eiver. Xash- 
ville and a very small part of the adjacent country excepted. Tliere were four 
regular preaching-places on tliat side of the river. In the course of that year two 
class-leaders belonging to the circuit were killed. In some places the i?reacliers 
could not retire to the woods or fields for the purpose of reading, meditation, and 
prayer, without probable danger of being shot or tomahawked. This was the 
more sensibly felt, as the houses in such places afforded little or no convenience 
for retirement. Our advantages consisted principally iit peace and love. My 
helper on Cumberland Circuit, Brother 0"Cull. labored with gre;U zeal till some 
time in the fall of 1791, when he broke himself down so entirely that he never 
recovered." 



Samuel Tucker — His Tragic End. 



445 



He was sent to the Limestone Circuit (Maysville), with Samuel 
Tucker. He trayeled his second year on the Salt Eiver Circuit, 
after which his name disappears from the Minutes, and he settled 
not far from the place of his birth, where he lived to a good age. 
In his local relation, by the sanctity of his life and by his devo- 
tion to the Church, Lillard was very useful. In his home the 
itinerant found a welcome, and his liberality contributed to the 
promotion of the cause. Samuel Tucker, his colleague, was, like 
Lillard, a new recruit. He reached the circuit only in time to 
find a grave. The parents of the late Edward Stevenson, D.D. — 
converts of Strawbridge— had floated down the Ohio Eiver with 
a company of emigrants in time to welcome the first missionaries 
who came to Mason county, Kentucky. He describes the tragic 
fate of Samuel Tucker: 

AVidely different, however, Avas the fate of the next lot of boats that attempted the 
same dangerous passage. A little below the mouth of the Scioto, they Avere attacked 
by the Indians, in great numbers, from both sides of the river, as Avell as from 
their bark canoes in the stream itself. Two of the boats were soon overpowered, 
and an indiscriminate slaughter of men women and children ensued. The third 
and only remaining boat of the company was closely pursued for several hours. 
The most of the men were either killed or Avonnded, and the remaining force was 
not sufficient to manage the oars and successfully resist a direct assault from their 
blood-thirsty pursuers. The Avomen came to the rescue from their places of pro- 
tection. Some took the oars and others reloaded the guns, leaving the fcAV fight- 
ing men Avho had been preserved from the balls of the enemy nothing to do but 
to Avatch the moA'ements of the insidious foe and fire to the best advantage. The 
Indians at length began to liaul off: the fire from the boat had become too con- 
stant and Avell-dii-ected ; and soon the last Avarlike craft disappeared on the distant 
waters, and the bullet-riven boat was left to float on Avithout further molestation. 
Early the next day they landed at the "Point" [MaysA^lle]. My father Avas 
among the first on board. The scene Avas inexpressibly horrible. The living, as 
well as the dead and dying, were literally covered AA'ith blood. Among the latter 
was Samuel Tucker. He had received a Avound in his chest soon after the com- 
mencement of the attack ; but, nothing daunted by the near and certain approach 
of death, he continued to fight on — loading and firing his own long rifle, until his 
fading vision shut out the enemy from his sight. He breathed his last, in submis- 
sion to the Divine will, soon after the boat reached the landing, and Avas buried 
by my father and others amid the lofty forest-trees that then overhung, in prim- 
itive grandeur and sublimity, tlie beautiful bottom Avhere now the tide of business 
and commerce rolls on unmindful of the past. The place of his interment is known 
to none noAV living.* 

Among the preachers admitted on trial with Wm. McKendree, 
Virginia, in 1788, were Henry Birchett, Aquila Sugg, Valentine 



* Itinerant Sketches in Christian Advocate (Nashville), Oct. 9, 1856. 



446 



History of Methodism. 



Cook, and JohnMcGee; all of whom, like himself, were in after 
years laborers in the West. Henry Birchett, after a few years on 
the Western frontiers, died in the work. The remains of this god- 
ly man, who fell in 1794, repose in an old grave-yard about three 
miles below Nashville. Some kind hand erected a simple tomb- 
stone, and inscribed it with his initials. His biography says of 
him — and it is among the earliest found in the Minutes: " He was 
a gracious, happy, useful man, wdio freely offered himself for four 
years' service on the dangerous stations of Kentucky and Cum- 
berland. He w^as one among the worthies Avho freely left ease, 
safety, and prosperity, to seek after and suffer faithfully for 
souls. His meekness, love, labors, prayers, tears, sermons, and 
exhortations will not be soon forgotten." ''^ 

Peter Massie's race w^as soon run. "A feeling, pathetic preach- 
er; a good singer; and remarkable for his zeal," is the testi- 
mony of the veterans who survived him. Though stationed in 
Kentucky, he died in the bounds of the Cumberland Circuit, on 
w^hich he traveled the previous year. On the 18th of December, 
1791, he reached the house of Mr. Hodges, four miles west of 
Nashville. The family w^as in the fort for protection. The only 
person at the cabin, besides Mr. Hodges — who was sick — was a 
negro named Simeon, who had that evening escaped from the In- 
dians. Simeon had become acquainted with the preacher the past 
year, and had been converted through his instrumentality. Massie 
w^as " an afflicted man," and on reaching the house of his friend, he 
complained of indisposition. Next morning in conversation it was 
said "that he would soon be well enough to travel, if he recov- 
ered so fast." To wdiich he replied, " If I am not w-ell enough 
to travel, I am happy enough to die."f These were his last 
words. In a few moments he fell from his seat, and suddenly 
expired. Nearly a half century later the Tennessee Conference 
appointed a committee to seek for his grave, no stone having 
marked it. The committee searched in vain. The grave was 
never found, but the grave-digger w^as: 

After an ineffectual search for years, the hoi^e of success was abandoned. Sev- 
en years later, the Eev. Thomas L. Douglass was preaching near Nashville, and 
in the close of his sermon referred with much feeling to the hope of meeting in 
heaven with Asbury, McKendree, and others who had passed over the flood. In 
the congregation sat an aged African, Avith tears coursing down his cheeks. He 



* Life and Times nf Wm. .MeKendree, by Pnino. fRf^- Learner Blackman's unpublished 
manuscri} ; quoted by Red ford in History of Metliodism in Kentucky. 



Peter Massie and ^^Father Simeon^ 



U7 



too was deeply moved, and thinking of another, exclaimed, in a clear voice, "Yes, 
and Brother Massie!" and then, continuing his soliloquy, he added: "Yes, Sime- 
on, with these hands, with no one to help, you dug his grave, and laid him away 
in the ground; but you will see him again, for he lives in heaven!" A member 
of the Tennessee Conference* sat just in front of old Simeon, and heard what he 
said. After the services he took him aside, and inquired what he knew of the 
burial of Peter Massie. He replied that he was at Mr. Hodges's at the death of 
Mr. Massie; that Mr. Hodges himself was unable to assist in his burial; and that 
he had no plank of which to make a coffin ; that he cut down an ash-tree and split 
it into slabs, and placed them in the grave which he had dug, and after depositing 
the body, placed a slab over it, and then filled the grave with earth. He believed 
he could find the spot where the remains of Massie lay, but he could not. When 
he buried him the whole country was a wilderness, but at the time he made the 
search for his grave civilization had changed its entire appearance. 

Simeon was a native African, and stated to the late Bishop Paine that he be- 
longed to the nobility of that country. When only a cliild he was brought to the 
United States. Under the preacliing of Peter Massie, in 1790, he had been 
awakened and converted. For more than fifty years he lifted the standard of the 
cross among the colored people of Tennessee, and exerted an influence that was 
felt far and near. With the people of his own color he enjoyed a popularity that 
belonged to no other man in the community, and over them he exercised an au- 
thority for good. The purity of his life so won upon the affections and confidence 
of his master that in early manhood he emancipated him and gave him a small 
farm near Nashville, which was voluntarily returned in his last will and testa- 
ment. The concern that he felt for the African race was not confined to those 
around him, but his sympathy extended to his countrymen in their native land. 

In 1823 he called on Bishop McKendree, and presented to him, in forcible 
language, tlie wants and condition of his people in Africa, and urged the appoint- 
ment of a missionary to that benighted land. The Bishop became deeply inter- 
ested in the scheme, and decided to comply with his wishes. The Rev. Robert 
(since Bishop) Paine was then stationed at Franklin and Lebanon. He offered 
himself for the work, making only one condition — that Simeon should accompany 
him. To this Simeon readily consented; but the arrangement was defeated by 
the remonstrance of the Church against the removal of their preacher.f 

In his personal appearance he was superior to all his race around him. Al- 
though a full-blooded African, his face would have commanded attention any- 
where. With a high and well-formed forehead; with penetrating, searching 
eyes; with a countenance full of the expression of benevolence; and with a mind 
far above ordinary, he would have commanded respect in any community. Added 
to these a life unblemished by vice, developing every day the practical duties and 
virtues of Christianity, it is no wonder that he enjoyed the confidence of those 
among whom he lived. 

In 1847, after a long and useful life, he was called from "labor to reward." 
While dying, a member of the Church was kneeling beside him, who said to him: 
"Father Simeon, what hope have you beyond the grave?" With his eyes swim- 
ming in death, he raised his right-hand, " Up, up, up ! " He spoke no more. 



-Rev. A. L. P. Green, D.D. ; quoted in Redford's History, have these facts from Bishop 
'Pame— Bedford'' s History. 



448 



History of Methodism. 



Bishop Asbury's second visit to Kentucky (1792) was with 
"guards," McHenry and Burke probably leading them: 

April 4. — This morning we swam the [upper Cumberland] river, and also the 
West Fork thereof. My little horse was ready to fail in the course of the day. I 
was steeped in the water up to the waist. About seven o'clock, with hard push- 
ing, we reached the Crab Orchard. How much I have sutfered in this journey is 
only known to God and myself. What added much to its disagreeableness, I was 
seized with a severe flux, which followed me eight days: for some time I kept up, 
but at last found myself under the necessity of taking to my bed. 

April 10. — I endured as severe pain as perhaps I ever felt. I made use of 
small portions of rhubarb, and also obtained some good claret, of Avhich I drank 
a bottle in three days, and was almost well, so that on Sunday following I 
preached a sermon an hour long. In the course of my affliction I have felt my- 
self very low. I have had serious views of eternity, and was free from the fear of 
death. 

April 23. — I rode to Bethel. I found it necessary to change the plan of the 
house, to make it more comfortable to the scholars in cold weather. I am too 
much in company, and hear so much about Indians, convention, treaty, killing, 
and scalping, that my attention is drawn more to these things than I could wish. 
I found it good to get alone in the woods and converse Avitli God. 

Bethel was a place for holding Conference, and for awhile 
there was hope of it as an educational center. The order of 
history may be anticipated a little concerning BetheL It was 
located on a high bluff in a bend of Kentucky Eiver, Jessamine 
county. Wm. Burke gives this account of it at a later day: 

The design was to accommodate the students in the house with boarding, etc. 
The first and second stories were principally finished, and a spacious hall in the 
center. The building of this house rendered the pecuniary means of the preach- 
ers very uncertain, for they were continually employed in begging for Bethel. 
The people were very liberal, but they could not do more than they did. The 
country was new, and the unsettled state of the people, in consequence of the In- 
dian wars and depredations, kept the country in a continual state of agitation. 
The Legislature at an early period made a donation of six thousand acres of land 
to Bethel Academy. The land was located in Christian county, south of Green 
Eiver, and remained a long time unproductive, and while I continued a trustee, 
till 1804, it was rather a bill of expense than otherwise. In 1803 I was appoint- 
ed by the Western Conference to attend the Legislature and obtain an act of in- 
corporation. I performed that duty, and Bethel was incorporated, with all the 
powers and privileges of a literary institution. The Rev. Valentine Cook was the 
first that organized the academical department, and at first the prospect was flat- 
tering. A number of students were in attendance ; but difiiculties occurred which 
it would be needless to mention, as all the parties concerned have gone to give an 
account at a liigher tribunal. 

Valentine Cook was educated at Cokesbury. He did memo- 
rable service in Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, both as a 



Ashiinj at Bethel Academi/. 



449 ^ 



preacher and polemic— rather eccentric in manner, mighty in the 
Scriptures, and of more learning than any of his ministerial as- 
sociates. He labored extensively and very successfully in plant- 
ing Methodism in the West. His memory is a sweet savor 
throughout the wide region of his labors. 

A capital mistake about this second Cokesbury — often repeat- 
ed since — was its location. The attempt to get away from temp- 
tation took the projectors into the woods. The hermit ideal is as 
impracticable for schools as for persons. And they were be- 
trayed into the fatal location by an act of apparent liberality. 
The holders of real estate see their interest in offering induce- 
ments for the location of an institution, while a whole Church 
works to sustain an uphill business and — to raise the price of lots. 
Some gifts are very costly, in the long run. Eight years after 
this, Bishop Asbury made a fourth visit to Kentucky: 

Oct. 4. — I was so dejected I could do little but weep. vSabbath-day it rained, 
and I kept at home. Here is Bethel: Cokesburv in miniature; eighty by thirty 
feet, three stories, with a high roof, and finished below. Xow we want a fund 
and an income of three hundred per year to carry it on, without which it will be 
useless. But it is too distant from public places. Its being surrounded by the 
Kentucky Eiver, in part, we now find to be no benefit. Thus all our excellences 
are turned into defects. Perhaps Brother Poythress and myself were as much 
overseen with this place as Dr. Coke was with the seat of Cokesbury. But all is 
right that works right, and all is wrong that works wrong; and we must be blamed 
by men of slender sense for consequences impossible to foresee — for other people's 
misconduct. Monday and Tuesday we were shut up in Bethel with the travel- 
ing and local ministry, and the trustees that could be called together. AVe or- 
dained fourteen or fifteen local and traveling deacons. It was thought expedient 
to carry the first design of education into execution, and that we should employ 
a man of sterling qualifications, to be chosen by and under the direction of a se- 
lect number of trustees and others, who should obligate themselves to see him 
paid, and take the profits, if any, arising from the establishment. Dr. [Samuel K.] 
Jennings was thought of, talked of, and Avritten to. 

The site of Bethel can barely be identified; not one stone is 
left upon another where Asbury wept over disappointment and 
failure. This second visitation completed, he returns to the Hol- 
ston Yalley, and thence to the East, through the inevitable wilder- 
ness. Leaving Crab Orchard, the company make for Cumber- 
land Gap: "thirty-six good travelers, and a few warriors." 

The first night out the Bishop notes : " I stretched myself on 
the ground, and borrowing clothes to keep me warm, by the mer- 
cy of God I slept four or five hours. Next morning we set off 
29 



^450 



History of Method ism. 



early, and i^assed beyond Eicliland Creek. Here we were in 
danger, if anywhere. I could have slept, but was afraid. Seeing 
the drowsiness of the company, I walked the encampment and 
w^atched the sentries the whole night." 

He left the \Yestern work well manned. There were two dis- 
tricts: Barnabas McHenry presided in Holston, and Francis 
Poythress in Kentucky. AVm. Burke, John Bay, John Page, 
and Benjamin Northcutt, ax:)peared for the first time — a strong 
^ re enforcement. 

Xorthcutt, a native of Xorth Carolina, followed in the track of 
Daniel Boone, at sixteen, and vras converted at twenty. Though 
he traveled but a short time under the rule of Conference, yet 
his domestic and neighborhood itinerancy continued to bless 
the Church. In the local relation he often devoted weeks to- 
gether in attending meetings both near and remote from his 
home. On camp-meeting occasions he was a powerful preacher. 
One who knew him well testified: "Few men have been permit- 
ted to live an age in one community and go down to the grave 
with the universal testimony that their lives were of unimpeach- 
able purity. Yet this was the lot of Benjamin Northcutt." Side 
by side, at Cane Eidge, at Indian Creek, at Sugar Eidge, and in 
other portions of Kentucky, he labored Avith Bay, and Page, and 
the foremost, in the great revival that closed the last and opened 
the present century. He died of cancer, in 1854, declaring that 
his unwavering confidence in his Eedeemer was astonishing, even 
to himself — that death was no terror to him.'"'' 

Bay, also, was found and saved by the gospel in Kentucky. 
Not much of a preacher, he drew the bow at a venture and sel- 
dom failed to hit something. "AVhen the Methodists vis- 
ited his neighborhood he was one of the first converts, and for- 
saking his gay and trifling companions, turned his feet to the 
house of God. Impressed with the conviction that he ought to 
preach, he offered himself to the Conference. His first and sec- 
ond years were spent on the Limestone Circuit, in Kentucky; 
his third on Green Circuit, in East Tennessee; and the tliree fol- 
lowing years in Yirginia. From the year 1797 to 1800, inclusive, 
he traveled extensively in Xorth Carolina. Worn down, he lo- 
cated and rested, then returned to the work again." t He was a 
man of large stature, well-proportioned, erect, and commanding • 

^Jonathan Stampers "Aunimn Leaves," in Home Circle, flbid. 



John Raij and John Page. 



451 



in appearance. He was celebrated for liis capacity to command 
order, and tame the ruffians who sometimes infested camp-meet- 
ings. On one occasion he asked some yonng men to leave the 
seats appropriated to ladies. They did not obey; whereupon he 
left the stand, and was approaching them, when he overheard 
one of them say to his companion, "If he comes to me, I'll 
knock him down." Kay very coolly replied, "You are too light, 
young man;" and taking him by the hand, led him quietly to 
his appropriate seat. He was noted for his o|)position to slavery, 
and was rough in the manner in which he obtruded that subject 
upon people. He would seldom lodge at the house of a slave- 
holder, if he could avoid it. Often at his appointments, when 
invited home with a stranger, his interrogatory would be, "Have 
you any negroes?" In the Annual Conference, whenever a 
X)reacher was proposed for admission, every eye would be turned 
to Father Ray, expecting him to arise, as was his custom, and 
say, " Mr. President, has he any negroes." ^' He left Kentucky 
after he superannuated, on account of his dislike to slavery, and 
removed to Indiana. In the sixty-ninth year of his age he 
passed away, at his residence near Greencastle, where he had 
lived since 1831, esteemed and beloved by all who knew him. 
"Hundreds are yet living," wrote a veteran, twenty years ago, 
" not only in Kentucky, but in Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri— 
who once knew him well, and can call up, with the freshness of 
yesterday, the swelling melody that rolled from his clear, mu- 
sical voice, as he would lift it up in his favorite hymn : 

' Our souls by love together knit. 
Cemented, mixed in one!'"t 

A native of Fauquier county, Ya., the venerable John Page 
died at his home in Tennessee, in 1859, ninety-three years old. 
He was in his twenty-sixth year when his name first appeared on 
the roll. All over Kentucky and Tennessee he bore the burden 
and heat of the day. On the border of South-western Virginia, 
in 1800, a letter from Bishop Asbury reached him, calling for his 
services three hundred miles away. He says : " When the letter 
was handed me, urging me to hasten to Cumberland with all 
speed, I had just finished my sermon. I took my dinner and 
started, and reached my destined place as soon as I could." 
Letters to him from Bishops Coke, Asbury, and Whatcoat show 



*B;ev. Jonathan Stamper's ''Autumn Leaves," in Home Circle, 1860. flbid. 



452 



Hisfonj of Method ism. 



in hovr liigli esteem lie was held by tliem. That of the first, 
dated 1S03, is full and earnest: 

I am glad to find that my old, venerable colleagues are able, bv traveling sep- 
arately, to preside at all the Annual Conferences, I frequently travel with them 
in spirir. and never forget them and my other American brethren any night what- 
ever, while I am bowing ray knees before tlie tluYaie. (3 what a ravishing view 
the Lord sometimes favors me with of yonr immense continent, filled with inhal> 
itants. and filled witli sons of God I I feel myself more than ever drawn toward 
my American brcTliren by the cords of love. Let me hear from you by some 
merchant-ship, directing to me at the New Chapel, City Eoad, London — whence 
all letters are safely sent to me, it I be not there.* 

When John Page began to jDreach in Kentucky and Tennessee 
there were two districts, embracins; nine circuits, 19 trayelinij 
preachers,, and only '2.6~4z white and 201 colored members. At 
his death there were, in the same territoiy, five Annual Confer- 
ences, embracing forty-four districts, and four hundred and 
eighty-six stations, circuits, and missions; 6S9 traveling and 1,676 
local preachers; and a white membership of 155,584, and 30,796 
colored. He contributed greatly to this result. 

James Haw, having done faithful and heroic service in Ken- 
tucky, was superseded on the district and sent to Cumberland 
Circuit in 1790. Here also he was very successful, and closed 
his itinerancy not so well as it deserved. Says a local chroni- 
cler: "It seemed at one time, after the arrival of the Methodist 
preachers in Cumberland, that all the people would embrace re- 
ligion."" The citizens of Sumner county made him a present of 
a section of land (610 acres', that he might fix his home among 
them. He embraced the views of O'Kelley, and by his influence 
and address evil-afiected a few itinerants, and brought over to his 
views every local preacher but one in the county in which he had 
located; and considerable dissatisfaction obtained among the 
members in many of the societies. 

In 1795 a young man in the fourth year of his ministry put in 
a timely appearance on the Cumberland Circuit. He did a great 
work in establishing and extending Episcopal Methodism in the 
West, for he had a fine courage and intellect and a consecrated 
spirit — William Burke. He requested Haw to meet him in pub- 
lic, and adjust the differences, if possible. They met, according 
to appointment. Burke did himself much honor: an almost ex- 



*Published with a letter from himself, in the South-vsestern Christian Adv-xate 
(Nashville), March 22, ISU. 



Haw and Biirhe — Thomas Wilkerson. 



453 



piring cause was saved. In debate, before a large and deeply 
interested audience, Burke so refuted liis objections on Cliurch 
government as to leave Haw almost without a following. He 
held one sacramental meeting, and it is said that himself and 
wife were the only communicants. But few^ if any, were either 
awakened or converted under his ministry after his defection ; so 
entirely did the spirit engendered by schism destroy a once 
powerful ministry. An unpublished history gives a further 
glimpse of our old friend and of those times : 

In the revival among the Presbyterians and Methodists about the year 1800, 
Haw joined the Presbyterians. At that time the Presbyterians were friendly with 
the Methodists; Methodists and Presbyterians preached and communed together; 
but when Haw joined the Presliyterians, as he had said many things disrespectful 
of Bishop Asbury and of the form of discipline, the existing union was likely to 
be broken. John Page and Tliomas Wilkerson, stationed in Cumberland Circuit 
at that time, very unreservedly stated their objections to Mr. Haw, and that if he 
continued among them he must make such acknowledgments as would satisfy the 
Methodists; and if he did not, the union must be, in the nature of things, broken. 
The Presbyterians determined tliat Mr. Haw should make such public acknowl- 
edgment, that the existing union miglit not be interrupted. 

The charges were: 1. For falsely representing Bishop Asbury as having a libid- 
inous thirst for power. 2. For making attempts to disunite the Methodist So- 
ciety in Cumberland. 3. In attempting to destroy the Methodist discipline — 
charges that Haw did not deny. But it was requested that he should make his 
acknowledgments publicly. Accordingly, on Sunday morning, at camp-meeting, 
before thousands, Mr. Haw made acknowledgments, full and satisfactory. He ac- 
knowledged that he had misrepresented Bishop Asbury and the Metliodist disci- 
pline. After this Mr. Haw seemed to rise in the esteem of the people, and gain 
some influence as a preacher. He continued with the Presbyterians while he 
lived.* 

The Conference for the West vras held in 1795 at Felix Ear- 
nest's, on Nollichucky. "Here six brethren from Kentucky 
met us," says the Bishop; and that was as near as he got to it. 
Bishop Asbury could not go, but sent help. John Buxton, 
Aquila Sugg, and Francis Acuff, were transferred to Kentuck}^, 
and reported for duty: historic names in Western Methodism. 

Another name is introduced this year into the annals of Meth- 
odism in the West — Tliomas Wilkerson, a native of Amelia 
county, Virginia. He had not the advantages of early religious 
training, as his parents were irreligious. When about thirteen 
years of age he was awakened, but by improper associations his 
good impressions were effaced. Though so young, he endeavored 



" MS. of Eev. Learner Blackman ; quoted in Bedford's History. 



454 



Hi story of Methodism. 



to drink in the poison of infidelity, but found no relief. When 
eighteen years of age, his neighborhood was blessed Avitli a gra- 
cious reyival, and among the subjects of conversion were several 
of his associa.tes. A determination to dissuade them from a re- 
ligions life opened afresh the springs of conviction in his own 
heart, and renewed his purpose to seek religion. On the follow- 
ing Sunday he joined the Church, and before the next, in a re- 
markable manner, he received the witness of the Spirit to his 
adoption as a child of God. This is the beginning of the meek, 
brave, pure, holy life and ministry, spent mainly in the West, 
Vv^here his name is as ointment poured forth. Under the pastoral 
care of John Metcalf, then traveling the circuit in which he re- 
sided, he was kept in the exercise of " gifts and graces," and at 
the session of the Yirginia Conference held in Manchester, 1792 
—the stormy session that witnessed McKendree's temporary 
cessation from the itinerancy — Thomas Wilkerson became a 
traveling preacher. 

He filled circuits in Yirginia and Xorth Carolina for three years, 
and when Asbury called for volunteers, Wilkerson offered himself. 
His first appointment in Kentucky was the Hinkstone Circuit, 
including Bourbon county. The country through which he 
had to pass to reach his new field was sparsely settled, and 
the journey hazardous. He says: "We had to pack our pro- 
visions for man and horse for nearly two hundred miles." Be- 
ing detained, his company had left him. Friendly settlers on 
the border of this mighty sea of woods described its perils 
and attempted to dissuade him from his purpose to pass 
through it alone. Tales of murder, of the tomahawk and scalp- 
ing-knife, in the depths of the very forest through which he 
had to pass, were rehearsed to deter him. Into the lonesome, 
solemn forest he plunged. He rode on and on, musing upon 
the loneliness of man isolated from humanity, and the still 
greater loneliness of him who is isolated from God. Night 
came; he lay down and slept, and aAvoke to find "his kind Pre- 
server near." As he pursued his way a chilling consciousness 
of his solitary, helpless condition seized him. He apprehended 
danger near. Old tales of blood and torture recurred to his 
mind. He looked behind, before, and on either side. A moving 
object coming toward him startled him. He saw it was a human 
being; he felt it to be a savage. Turning as quietly as possible 



The Solitary Traveler. 



455 



to one side, among tlie bushes, lie awaited tlie event with throb- 
bing heart. The footfalls sounded nearer and nearer; a swarthy, 
fierce-looking man stepped full in view and, himself startled, 
grasped convulsively his rifle, but soon relaxed his grasp, and 
joyously greeted the affrighted preacher. Wilkerson found the 
stranger to bv^ a v/ay-worn, famished soldier from Wayne's army, 
on his return home. He shared with him his dried beef and home- 
made tree-sugar, the remnant of his scanty provisions. After 
checking their hunger and passing a few minutes in conversa- 
tion, they knelt dov^n and commended themselves to God, and 
parted, each to pursue his journey alone. Not far beyond, in a 
ravine whose depths the sun hardly penetrated, so walled in was 
it by cliffs and overarching trees, the sight of two wdiite-ribbed 
skeletons, whose skulls showed the marks of the weapons used, 
deepened the traveler's sense of loneliness and danger, and 
caused a lifting up of his heart to God that brought him most 
sensible comfort while he pursued the path of duty. 

His second appointment in the West was the Lexington Cir- 
cuit; the next year, the Cumberland; in 1798, the Holston Circuit, 
with Tobias Gibson. Holston, with the exception of a few wide 
sweeps beyond, became the scene of his labors. Feeble in frame, 
more than once he had to retire and rest; then v\^e meet him 
again on the high places of the field, till he falls into the super- 
annuated list. In 1801 he attempted to return East, but was met 
by Bishop Asbury at the Western Conference, and sent again to 
Cumberland, where he remained two years — the circuit taking, 
for the first time, the name of "Nashville." His appointments 
for several years threw him in the midst of the great revival 
which was permeating Middle Tennessee and Kentucky, and in 
which he bore a prominent part. The labors he performed and 
the exposures he underwent were too much for his constitution, 
previously impaired. At the Conference of 1803, Avhen Bislio|) As- 
bury met him he said, " You look very slim ; " and offered him any 
appointment he might choose. Acting upon the principle that the 
preacher who chooses his own field of ministerial labor chooses 
at the same time any difiiculties that may ensue, he declined the 
proffered kindness. The church in Lexington had petitioned to 
be separated from the circuit. "Lexington Town," the first sta- 
tion in the West, was announced, with Thomas Wilkerson as 
its pastor. 



456 



History of Method ism. 



His excellent sense and fervent piety largely overcame the 
want of early advantages not only in education but in that which 
is still more difficult of later acquirement — social manners. This 
was often the subject of remark among those who knew him. It 
was difficult to account for the courtly smoothness and urbanity 
of the man, who had been born in humble life and trained in the 
wilderness. "In dress," says one who kneAv him well, "he was 
scrupulously neat and plain, alwaj's wearing a gray-mixed home- 
spun suit, cut according to the primitive Methodistic style. He 
could never be induced to assume the clerical black. He was 
met one day on the streets of Nashville by a young preacher, 
sleek in his raven broadcloth, who accosted him with: 'Well, 
Brother Wilkerson, ^iij do you not wear black? It gives dig- 
nity to the appearance of a minister, and is so apt to insure him 
respect, I think every minister should wear it.' Wilkerson, 
who by inheritance or marriage was well to do, and could have 
afforded the finest, replied: 'I have reasons, my brother, why I 
do not wear black. First, we are told that our message is glad 
tidings, good news; and such being the case, it seems to me that 
for the heralds of such a message to go clad in mourning is 
wholly inappropriate. In the next place, I was taken up by God 
from the humbler rank in life, and if the dispensation of the gos- 
pel committed to me is to be delivered to any particular class, it 
is to the poor. It is with them I hope to be useful ; and I wish 
by all proper means to commend myself to them. Hence I dress 
so as to make myself easy of approach, and wish by this means 
to make them feel that I am their equal, their brother, their 
friend, and not elevated so far above them as to have no sympa- 
thy Avith them.'" 

He was a delegate to the General Conference of 1828, which 
met at Pittsburg. When he came forward to have his quarters 
assigned him the committee looked at him, then looked at each 
other,, and turned aside to deliberate; all of which resulted in 
sending Wilkerson away off across the river, perhaps to the vil- 
lage of Alleghany. He made no remonstrance. When the com- 
mittee on public worship informed him that he was appointed 
to preach at a certain time and place, he told them No; he was 
out of the corporation — beyond their jurisdiction. A second 
time they came, *and fortified their authority by saying that 
Bishop George said he must preach. (Probably the Bishop 



Wilkerson Dies an Octogenarian. 



457 



had suggested his appointment.) He told them if the Bishop 
said so he was under his jurisdiction, and would comply. The 
Sunday evening hour saw a large congregation and a gracious 
surprise. The backwoodsman preached mightily and tenderly. 
Mourners were invited to the altar for prayer. Numbers came. A 
time of refreshing appeared, and sinners were happily converted. 
Wilkerson's star was in the ascendant; and now came what he dis- 
liked more than all the ill treatment his homespun had brought 
upon him. The preachers, very charitably, determined to make 
up a purse and buy him a suit of clothes. As they were speak- 
ing of it in the presence of good Bishop George, who knev/ 
Wilkerson at home, a mischievous twinkle played in the corner 
of the old Bishop's eye. "Why, brethren," said he, "if you 
were blacked he could buy half of you." 

"His was a piety," continues one who grew up under the in- 
fluence of his gracious life, "that begat meekness, gentleness, 
temperance, patience, long-suffering, brotherly kindness, charity; 
a piety that lived and breathed in all his words and acts; a pi- 
ety that made him a most estimable citizen, a kind neighbor, a 
just and tender master, a devoted husband; a piety conspicuous 
in the pulpit, in the social circle, around the fireside ; a piety that 
maintained his spirits in cheerfulness and hope through the vi- 
cissitudes and reverses of a long life."''^ 

He died at his residence, near Abingdon, Virginia, 1856, in 
the eighty-fourth year of his age. On his bed of death, a few 
v/eeks before he passed aw^ay, he said: " This old, worn-out frame 
I shall willingly consign to the grave. The grave cannot hurt it. 
Storms may rage, the revolutions of the earth may go on, but 
my body shall be at rest. God has use for it, and he Avill take 
care of it till the judgment. My soul is his. He gave it; to 
him, blessed be his name! it will return." • He was fearful of 
grieving the Spirit by being too anxious to depart, for he was 
w^eary of life's long labors. He said: "The grave is a quiet rest- 
ing-place; death is a jjleasant sleep." The last connected words 
he uttered were: "If I had my time to go over I would preach 
differently to what I have. I would preach more about eternity. 
I would strive to keep eternity always before the minds of my 
people. What is time but a vapor? Eternity is all!" 

"^Kev. George E. NafF, in Home Circle, Vol. 11. ; and General Minutes M. E. 
Church, South. 



458 History of Methodism. 

''lu the year 1798," says John Kobler, "I was sent by Bishop 
Asbury, as a missionary, to form a new circuit in what was then 
called the North-western Territory." A native of Culpepper, Vir- 
ginia, after good service at home he v,^as, in his thirtieth year, 
api3ointed presiding elder of Kentucky District, succeeding (in 
1797) the noble Poythress, who for ten years had held the post 
of honor and danger. One year's work on this district made 
Kobler acquainted with frontier life, and he was the first mis- 
sionary to cross the Ohio River. 

Francis McCormack, a local preacher from Western Maryland, 
who immigrated to Kentucky in 1795 and settled in Bourbon 
county, had preceded Kobler to the North-western Territory, and 
settled "on the Little Miami, near where Milford nov/ stands." 
Up to the time of the entrance of Kobler on this missionary 
field, "no sound of the everlasting gospel had as yet broken 
upon their ears; no house of worship was erected Avherein Jeho- 
vah's name was recorded; no joining the assembly of the saints, 
or those who keep the holy day; but the whole might, with strict 
propriety, be called the land of darkness and the shadow of 
death."*' He "spread the first table for the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper that was spread north-west of the Ohio," when 
only "twenty-five or thirty — the sum total of all that were in the 
country — communed." At the ensuing Conference Kobler re- 
ported the Miami Circuit with ninety-eight white members and 
one colored. Henry Smith was his successor. 

While a presiding elder in Kentucky, Kobler visited a village 
where no Methodist minister had ever preached. Through the 
efforts of a few infiuential citizens, the use of the court-house 
was obtained, and he was invited to preach. "All the respecta- 
ble citizens attended, and listened to his sermon with profound 
attention." When the ]3ublic services were over, the people in- 
sisted that he was v>'rongly named — that he was no cobbler, but 
a complete workman. 

Soon after Kobler appeared in his new field his hands were 
strengthened by the arrival of PhiliiD Gatch with a goodly com- 
pany, who had left Yirginia in October, for the Miami region. 
Here was another preacher's home in the wilderness, and another 
preacher and preaching-place. They had known and loved each 



^Finlev's Sketches of Western Methodism. 



Jolui Kobler and Philip Gatcli. 



459 



other in the East. The temptation, if not the necessity, of taking 
a hand in civil life in the formative stage of society and govern- 
ment, gave Gatch's future an unexpected turn : 

He was made a magistrate, was a delegate to the convention which formed the 
constitution of the State, and Avas appointed by tlie Legislature an associate 
judge. He became a most influential citizen, a patriarch of the commonwealth 
as well as of the Church. Asburj, Whatcoat, and McKendree, were often his 
guests; and his old Eastern fellow-laborers — Watters, Dromgoole, and others — 
cheered him with letters. For twenty-two years his position on tlie bench of the 
court of common pleas reflected honor on the public justice. His friend and fel- 
low-preacher, Judge Scott, who, as we have seen, attained the honor of the su- 
preme court, says he was "regarded as a man of inestimable worth." His con- 
nection with the early history of tlie Church rendered his old age venerable, and 
the Ohio Conference placed his name among its superannuated preachers, that- 
he might die Avith it on their record.* 

Kobler's last days were passed in Fredericksburg, Virginia. 
The General Minutes say: "The saint-like spirit, the Christian 
conversation, the dignified and ministerial bearing, and the untir- 
ing labors of John Kobler in preaching, exhorting, praying, and 
visiting the sick, have done more, under God, to give permanency 
to Methodism in Fredericksburg than any other instrumentality 
ever employed." Among his last active labors v/as a tour to the 
West, in his seventy-fourth year, visiting old circuits, and gath- 
ering from the rich and prosperous field one thousand dollars 
to build a nev/ church in Fredericksburg. He landed at Cincin- 
nati from aboard a steam-boat, where fort}^ years before he had 
left a few settlers in cabins around a fort, then under the com- 
mand of General Harrison — the great place of rendezvous for 
the troops which were sent by the government to guard the front- 
iers against the Indians. When he spread the first table for the 
sacrament of the Lord's Supper that was seen in the North-west, 
the communicants did not exceed twenty-five or thirty — the sum 
total of all that were in the country; now the Minutes of the An- 
nual Conferences of Ohio returned one hundred thousand regu- 
lar Church-members; so mightily had the word of God run and 
prevailed! Where once he preached in log-cabins, he now saw 
" stately churches, whose spires point toward heaven, and vdiose 
solemn bells announce the Christian Sabbath and call the at- 
tention of the multitude to the house of God." He visited the 
homes of his old friends of the Miami Circuit. "Taking my 



* Stevens's History of the M. E. Churcli. 



460 



Historij of Methodism. 



hand," writes a son of Gatcli, "he held it for some time in si- 
lence, looking me in the face with a most impressive expression 
of countenance, which produced in me a sensation that I shall 
not attempt to describe. At length, in the most emphatic man- 
ner, he said: 'Your father was a great man in his day. He 
fought many hard battles for the Church. May you be a worthy 
son of so worthy a father! ' He visited the graves of my parents, 
took off his hat, and stood some minutes as if absorbed in deep 
thought; fell upon his knees for some time, arose bathed in 
tears, and walked out of the grave-yard in silence." 

At the Kentucky Conference of 1794 appeared Thomas Scott, 
transferred from the Baltimore Conference. He was born in AYest- 
ern Maryland, 1772. In the fourteenth year of his age he was con- 
verted; at seventeen he was received on trial into the Conference. 
He traveled circuits in Yirginia and Maryland, and in 1793 he 
traveled the Ohio Circuit, a field of labor of great extent, stretch- 
ing along the frontier settlements on the Ohio River in Y\^estern 
Pennsylvania and Yirginia. In the spring of 1794, embarking 
at Wheeling, he descended the Ohio River on a flat-boat laden 
v/ith provisions for Wayne's army. This was his best route to 
join the Kentucky itinerancy. After doing good work on the 
Danville and Lexington circuits he located, and turned his at- 
tention to the study of law. Y^hile prosecuting his legal studies, 
in order to support his family he v/orked at the tailoring busi- 
ness — some idea of which he had gathered in early life from his 
father, who was a tailor. Anxious to render him every assist- 
ance, his wife spent her leisure time in reading to her husband 
Blackstone's Commentaries and other lav>^-books, while he plied 
his needle upon the board. In 1800 he obtained license to prac- 
tice law, and in 1801 emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Chilli- 
cothe. There was force in Thomas Scott's "character, as well as in 
his constitution. He outlived nearly all his contemporaries, and 
his sketches afford the best history of a good many men and 
things in his times. His first years in the itinerancy were spent 
as junior preacher under Yalentine Cook, and Daniel Hitt, and 
Thomas Lyell — men whose contact had an educating poAver. 
While on Berkeley Circuit, in Yirginia, he preached at Charles- 
town — a place where mobs had molested Methodist meetings. 
He preached in a grove, and requested all who wished to join the 
Church to meet him at his lodging at a given hour. He says: 



Thomas Scott and Edward Tiffin. 



461 



Before the hour had arrived Dr. Edward Tiffin came into the room where I 
was sitting, and commenced a conversation with me. Being a stranger to me, and 
not knowing but that he had been one of those who had favored the mobs, I con- 
versed with him cautiously. He however remained, and several others soon col- 
lected. After singing, prayer, and an exhortation, I gave an invitation to those 
who wished to become members to come forward and announce their names. The 
doctor was standing on the opposite side of the room fronting me. I had not per- 
ceived that he was affected; but the moment I gave the invitation he quickly 
stepped forward, evidently under deep and pungent conviction, roaring almost 
with anguish, and asked for admission into the Church. He was admitted, and 
before I had completed that round on the circuit he had preached several sermons. 
Immediately after I had received Dr. Tiffin into the Church he became convinced 
of his call to the ministry. Conferring not with flesh and blood, and without 
\Taiting for a license, he forthwith commenced preaching. 

Tiffin had a family, and could not therefore enter the itiner- 
ancy in those times. In stature he was about five feet six inches, 
robust, with a capacious head, a round, fiorid face, and express- 
ive features ; in conversation vivid and intelligent ; in the pulpit 
systematic and energetic. He removed to Ohio Territory, and 
when Scott reached Chillicothe, he found Tiffin, his convert of * 
ten years before, there ready to receive him, a commanding citi- 
zen, preaching the gospel in the surrounding country, organizing 
societies, dealing out medicines with liberality to the poor, suc- 
cessfully performing difficult cases of surgery, and sheltering 
the pioneer Methodists. Tiffin became the chief citizen of Ohio; 
was elected a member of the convention which formed its State 
constitution, and soon after elected its first governor, "without 
opposition." He served a second term, and was afterward chos- 
en senator in Congress, and held other places of trust. "He 
was an honor to his denomination, and his influence for it was 
one of its greatest early advantages in the West." 

When Tiffin was elected governor, Scott succeeded him in the clerkship of sev- 
eral courts, and at the first township election of Chillicothe, under the constitu- 
tion, he was elected a justice of the peace, the first one commissioned under the 
State organization. He was also elected secretary of the first State Senate, an of- 
fice Avhich he held several years, till he was appointed by the Legislature a judge 
of the supreme court, whose chief-justice he became one year later. In these 
prominent civil places he acquitted himself with honor, for his native capacity 
was much above mediocrity, and his diligent application, both to study and labor, 
rendered him master of his position. His official rank secured him public influ- 
ence, and this he, like his friend Tiffin, consecrated to religion. They were two 
of the strongest pillars of Methodism in Ohio, and to their public character and 
labors it owes much of its rapid growth and predominant sway in tliat magnificent 
Stale. Had Scott been able, after his marriage, to remain in the itinerant minis- 



462 



History of Methodism. 



try, lie would probably have attained, as his friends predicted, its highest office 
and dignity; but it may be doubted whether he or Tiffin could, even as its chief 
bishop, have served their denomination or their generation mere effectively than 
they did in their long and honorable lives as local preachers and public citizens. 
Ohio reveres the memory of her Methodist first governor and first chief-justice, 
and has given the name of the former to two of her towns."^' 

We take leave for awhile of Kentucky and Tennessee, the 
scene of the great Western campaign — the gate-way to the North- 
west, the transmontane distributing-point of ministerial supplies; 
but it is with a feeling of regret that the heroes whose self-deny- 
ing and mighty achievements laid not only the foundation of 
Methodism, but of a moral empire, can have such inadequate 
notice. They will live forever. Their record is on high. In 
the limits of this sketch, and at this distance of time, we must 
fail of doing reverence to a host of worthies, even by the mention 
of their names. Wm. Burke, Lewis Garrett, Moses Speer, Jacob 
« Lurton, Stephen Brooks, Henry Smith, James Ward, Eichard 
Bird, Benjamin Lakin, John Watson, Jeremiah Law^son, and 
their brethren, wrought on God's temple, holding the sword in 
one hand while the trowel was wielded by the other. 

But the work is under way; the land is surveyed and mapped 
out; log meeting-houses are rising up; every fort and station has 
been preached to; the roads, if not macadamized, have been 
"blazed;" preachers, exhorters, class-leaders, and a body of 
working laymen, begin to come forward from among the con- 
verts; and the living forces of a gospel Church are all at work. 
Methodism is established, and ready to receive and to assimilate 
immigrants as they come. There are, at the close of 1799, in 
Tennessee, 530 white and 51 colored members; in Kentucky, 
1672 white and 64 colored members; and the Miami Circuit, in 
the North-west Territory, has 98 members, and next year the Sci- 
oto will be added. All these are distributed into ten circuits, 
and served by twelve itinerants, and a number of local preachers. 

Looking to the Soutli-w^est, we see that vast domain opened or 
opening by late national treaties, and its occupancy is this year 
begun. Tobias Gibson, of the South Carolina Conference, hav- 
ing filled several appointments within the limits of his own Con- 
ference, was impressed with a strong desire to visit Natchez. 
He offered himself to Bishop Asbury as a missionary, and was 



* Stevens's History of the M. E. Church. 



Tobias Gibson — The Work Spreading. 



463 



sent to plant tlie banner of salvation on the lower Mississippi, 
in 1799, eighteen years before the Mississippi territory wa;^ ad- 
mitted into the Union. He set out from Pedee — his native spot 
■ — and bent his course toward the Cumberland Eiver. For six 
hundred miles he traveled through the wilderness. Arriving at 
the river, he sold his horse, bought a canoe, and embarked for 
tAvelve hundred miles, with saddle, bridle, and saddle-bags, and a 
supply of provisions. Paddling himself dowm the Cumberland, 
he dropped into the Ohio, and soon after reached the MississipjDi. 
"God speed thee, brave-hearted boatman! Thy frail b^rk car- 
ries the gospel to the frontier outpost of civilized life." /He con- 
tinued his solitary course down tiie great river until he reached 
Natchez. Here he founded a Methodist Church. He subse- 
quently made four land journeys through the wdlderness lying 
betv/een Natchez and the Cumberland, to procure additional la- 
borers. In the Minutes of 1800 sixty members were reported as 
the result of his first year's work. We shall see Methodism 
from this center working its way eastward until it meets the 
coming tide in the Tombigbee Yalley, and southward to New 
Orleans, and westward into Opelousas, Attakapas, and the Red 
River regions of Louisiana. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



Annual Conferences — Boundaries and Powers Established — Locations — Chartered 
Fund — Proposal to Strengthen the Episcopacy Fails — Asbury's Health Gives 
Way — Helpers — Whatcoat Consecrated Bishop — McKendree in the West. 

THE number of the yearly Conferences and tlieir size were 
found to be inconyenient. Tlie most of tliem were too small 
to exert the moral and disciplinary power that inheres in large 
and well-ordered bodies. They lacked the presence of mature and 
guiding minds, and presented not enough variety of talent and 
adaptation in the ministry to meet the demands of the work. This 
was remedied by the General Conference of 1796, which divided the 
whole Connection into six Conferences, independent of each other, 
with defined boundaries and limited powers ; with provision for a 
seventh in the province of Maine, " if the Bishops see it neces- 
sary." These six original Conferences were: New England, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Yirginia, South Carolina, and the 
Western Conference. Before this regulation the Bishop had the 
power of appointing the number of Conferences at his own discre- 
tion, which doubtless caused much pressure to be brought to bear 
on him for local accommodation. This and that neighborhood 
wanted a Conference, and the preachers wished to be excused from 
distant journeys. Two years before, fourteen Conferences had 
been held occupying eleven months. One of them began and 
closed the same day. This year an account of the number of the 
members in each State separately was taken. ^ 

The summing up of statistics for 1796 showed thirty preachers 
admitted on trial, and forty lost out of the traveling ministry — 
twenty-eight by location and nine by death. The next year forty 
recruits joined the itinerant ranks and forty-three located. This 
tendency was alarming. The ranks of the ministry were weak- 
ened even more than these figures indicated, for ministers of ex- 
perience and well-developed power were giving place to mere be- 

* Province of Maine, 357; IS'ew Hampsliire, 68; Connecticut, 1,050; New York, 
4,044; New Jersey, 2,351; Pennsylvania, 3,011; Delaware, 2,228; Maryland, 12,- 
416; Virginia, 13,779; Massachusetts, 824; Ehode Island, 220; North Carolina, 
8,713; South Carolina, 3,659; Georgia, 1,174; Tennessee, 546; Kentucky, 1,750; 
Upper Canada, 474. Total 56,664. 
(464) 



" The Chartered Fundr 



465 



ginners. There was a limit to endurance, even for single men, 
and for those with families to continue going became impossible 
in the present time, to say nothing of the lack of any provision 
in the future. They asked only to be supported — barely to sub- 
sist — while at work; not to lay up any thing. Below the bare 
subsistence-point in the itinerancy was — location."^ Something 
must be done, and at this General Conference the preachers' sal- 
aries being kept at the old mark (S64), a supplemental scheme 
was devised to help those who failed to get that, and others 
whose necessities required more. This scheme was known as 
the "Chartered Fund." It was domiciled in Philadelphia, and 
nine trustees chosen. The main provisions may be seen: 

Question: What further provision shall be made for the distressed trayeling 
preachers, for the families of traveling preachers, and for superannuated and worn- 
out preachers, and the widows and orphans of preachers? 

Answer: There shall be a chartered fund, to be supported by the voluntary 
contributions of our friends, the principal stock of which shall be funded under 
the direction of trustees, and the interest applied under the direction of the Gen- 
eral Conference, according to the following regulations, viz.: 

1. That no sum exceeding sixty-four dollars shall in any one year be applied 
to the use of an itinerant, superannuated, or worn-out single preacher. 

2. That no sum exceeding one hundred and twenty-eight dollars in any one 
year shall be applied to the use of any itinerant, superannuated, or worn-out mar- 
ried preacher. 

3. That no sum exceeding sixty-four dollars in any one year shall be applied 
for the use of each widow of an itinerant, superannuated, or worn-out preacher. 

4. That no sum exceeding sixteen dollars shall be applied in any one year for the 
use of each child or orphan of an itinerant, superannuated, or worn-out preacher. 

The interest was annually divided among the Conferences, to 
be used under these provisions; and in addition to gifts and leg- 
acies from friends, it was provided that " the produce of the sale 
of our books, after the book debts are paid and a sufficient capi- 
tal is provided for carrying on the business, shall be regularly 
paid into the Chartered Fund." 

In the plea issued by the General Conference in behalf of this 
fund, while a just claim is forcibly presented upon true grounds, 

^ Wm. Burke's case was not a solitary one. In 1794 we find him on Salt Eiver 
Circuit, Kentucky. It was nearly five hundred miles in extent, comprising five 
counties, to be traveled every four weeks, with continual preaching. The sorely 
tried itinerant writes : " I was reduced to the last pinch. My clothes were nearly 
all gone. I had patch upon patch, and patch by patch, and I received only 
money sufficient to buy a waistcoat, and not enough to pay for making it." 
30 



4.66 



Histonj of Methodism. 



we get a glimpse of a few bnnclies of those sour grapes wliicli 
the fathers ate, and in consequence the children's teeth were set 
on edge. There was no Missionary Board, as yet: 

Our brethren Avho have hibored on the mountains, on t]ie Western waters, and 
in the poorer circuits in general, have suffered unspeakable hardships, merely 
from the want of some established fund, in which tlie competent members of our 
Society might safely lodge what their benevolent hearts would rejoice to give for 
the spread of the gospel. On the same account many of our worn-out preachers, 
some of whom quickly consume their strength by their great exertions for the sal- 
vation of souls, have been brought into deep distress; and the widows and orphans 
of our preachers have been sometimes reduced to extreme necessity Avho might 
have lived in comfort if the preachers who were the husbands on the one Inuid, and 
the fathers on the other, had not loved tlieir Redeemer better than wife or chil- 
dren, or life itself. And it is to be lamented — if possible, M-ith tears of blood — 
that we have lost scores of our most able married ministers — men who Avere 
obliged to retire from the general Avork because they saw nothing before them for 
their wives and children — if they continued itinerants — but misery and ruin. But 
the present institution will, we trust, under the blessing of God, greatly relieve us 
in, if not entirely deliver us from, these mighty evils. For we have full confi- 
dence that the hearts of our friends will be enlarged, and their hands stretched 
forth on this important occasion, and a provision will be made sufficient to pre- 
serve such objects of charity from want, which is all that is aimed at or desired. 

" Many of our friends," says a contemporary historian, " will- 
ingly subscribed to this valuable institution, and several thousand 
dollars were collected in a short time." Some valuable legacies 
were also left by wall to the trustees of this fund. 

The endowment that supports a class of ministerial benefici- 
aries, retired and likely to be lost sight of and therefore neglect- 
ed, may be wise in its principle and good in its operations; but 
the principle of endowing a living and working ministry has 
been justly objected to. To this extent some have alleged that 
the Chartered Fund was a virtual repudiation of the doctrine of 
inspiration — " They that preach the gospel must live of the gos- 
pel." If successful, it would have made the ministry independ- 
ent of the people, and great evils would come of this; if unsuc- 
cessful, the persons whom it proposes to benefit are damaged by 
being cut off from direct reliance upon the living Church. The 
opinion of one who observed its workings closely is thus given: 

Though the creation of the Chartered Fund originated from the purest motives, 
and has been kept up and superintended by some of the most benevolent spirits 
of the Church, yet it has never been able to pay more than from ninety to one 
hundred dollars a year to each Annual Conference; and as this small amount 
would not, when divided among the several claimants, give to each but about two 



Location— The Effect and Cause of Evils. 467 



dollars a year, it may be questioned ^vhether, by inducing a false dependence in 
the public mind, this fund has not defeated the objects of its institution, and dis- 
appointed the expectations of its benevolent founders and patrons.* 

The Church moved ux:> slowly at this point, having much to 
overcome in the way of her ov/n teaching and habits. Four years 
later (1800), the preacher's salary was raised to eighty dollars a 
year, and the parsonage plan was inaugurated, providing a 
dwelling free of rent and supplied with heavy furniture. In the 
first thirty years after the organization of Episcopal Methodism 
sixteen hundred and sixteen itinerant preachers had united with 
the different Conferences. Two years later — that is, by the Gen- 
eral Conference of 1816 — seven hundred and sixty-four had lo- 
cated, one hundred and sixteen had died in the work, thirty-one 
had been expelled, nineteen had withdrawn, and six hundred and 
eighty-six still remained in the pastorate.f These figures show 
that during a period about the average of human life, immedi- 
ately following the organization of the Church, only seven per 
cent, of her itinerant ministry died in the active service, while 
forty-seven per cent, had located. The locations exceeded, by 
seventy-eight, the whole number of itinerants then retaining 
membership in the Conferences — the accumulation of all these 
years. This loss from the pastorate of men who had completed 
their probation — tested men — shows an immense strain on the 
system. Depriving the Church of the benefit of practiced wis- 
dom and ability in the pastoral relation was the first but not the 
only calamity. So many preachers of recognized, justly earned 
influence being thrown into the local ranks disturbed the equilib- 
rium of ecclesiastical government which, by reason and Script- 
ure, must always be largely devolved upon the pastorate; and 
thus w^as laid the foundation of revolutionary measures that in 
time came to the surface, with great disquiet and hurt. 

A Deed of Settlement, securing and protecting Church prop- 
erty, in nearly the language of the j)resent form, was the enact- 
ment of this General Conference; a timely measure, for as yet 
no great investment had been made in this direction. 

At this session it was agreed that local preachers might be or- 
dained deacons; and arrangements were also made for the trial 
of local preachers, with privilege of appeal. 

*Bangs's History of the M. -E. Church, A^ol. II. fSee alphabetical list in 
Bangs' s History. 



468 



History of Methodism. 



This General Conference Vv^as held in Baltimore, beginning 
on the 20th of October, with one hundred and twenty traveling 
preachers. An evidence of brevity and dispatch is furnished 
by one of them: "After we had finished the business of the 
Conference, we had the Minutes published before the preachers 
left town, that they might take them to their several circuits." 
Bishop Coke, who had been absent nearly four years, was pres- 
ent, and brought with him a letter of fraternal greeting from 
the British Conference. Hitherto Asbury, with little assistance 
from his colleague, had borne the whole burden of episcopal 
duty. He had been for some time desirous of dividing this bur- 
den; and now the magnitude of the work, the frequent and long 
European visits of Coke, and his own failing health, made it 
necessary that some one be appointed to "this office and minis- 
try." A resolution to strengthen the episcopacy was introduced, 
and pending its discussion Asbury rose and stated to the Confer- 
ence the fears that agitated his mind, and the reasons for them. 
He feared an imprudent selection, and expressed the hope that 
the choice might fall on some one well established in the doc- 
trines and discipline of Methodism. " This threw a damper on 
all present, and seemed to paralyze the whole business." The 
resolution was then modified so as to read thus: "To strengthen 
the episcopacy in a way which should be agreeable to Mr. As- 
bury." "It was then almost unanimously agreed to, and re- 
quested of Mr. Asbury to make the selection himself, which he 
appeared very backward and unwilling to do." At this juncture 
of the affair a new difficulty was started. Coke, who was pres- 
ent, and occupied the chair, requested the suspension of action 
upon the subject until the afternoon session. When the body 
assembled again, " Dr. Coke offered himself wholly to the Con- 
ference, promising to serve them in the best manner he could, 
and to be entirely at the disposal of his American brethren, and 
to live or die among them."'- He retired, and after two days' 
warm debate his offer Avas accepted, and the resolution before 
agreed to " was dropped." No doubt Coke was sincere in the offer 

Life and Times of Jesse Lee, by L. M. Lee, D.D., with an original letter from 
Eev. John Kobler (1843), who sat with Lee in tliree General Conferences. Jesse 
Lee opposed the acceptance of Coke's offer: "I still say. No more English bish- 
ops. I had rather lose one than make one I wish for an American Superintend- 
ent equal in power with Brother Asbury." See pages 370-380. 



Strengthening the Episcopacy. 



469 



made, but lie had many things on hand, and in a few months was 
on the ocean, in response to calls from the West Indies, and Ire- 
land, and England. 

Bishop Asbury's health failed during the next year, and on 
his route to the New England Conference he was obliged to 
lie by. Never of strong constitution, naturally subject to mel- 
ancholy and dejection, his travels have been a triumph of mind 
over matter; a strong will and a burning zeal have borne him 
along. AVith legs and feet swollen, and his chest blistered, he 
has been accomplishing journeys, been presiding and preach- 
ing, at a rate both w^onderful and painful to the reader wdio 
keeps acquainted with his diary. Nov\^ he stops, and yet does 
not stop; for through a score of years he will, to use his own ex- 
pression, go "hobbling" through the United States and Territo- 
ries. During the summer of 1797 he abandoned the hope of be- 
ing able to meet his engagements at the extremes of the Union. 
Under these circumstances he wrote to Jesse Lee requesting 
him to hold himself in readiness to leave his district, and go 
with him from the approaching New England Conference to 
Charleston and the more southern portions of the w^ork. A later 
letter bears date September 12th, appointing Lee president: 

My A'^eiy Dear Brother: I am convinced that I ought not to attempt to come to 
the Conference at Wilbraham. Riding thirteen miles yesterday threw me into 
more fever than I have had for a week past. It will be with difficulty I shall get 
back. The burden lieth on thee ; act with a wise and tender hand, especially on 
the stations. I hope it will force the Connection to do something, and turn their 
attention for one to assist or substitute me. I cannot express the distress I have 
had in all my afflictions, for the state of the Connection. We say the Lord will 
provide. True; but we must look out for men and means. Your brethren in 
Mrginia wish you to come forth. I think the most general and impartial election 
may take place in the Yearly Conferences; every one may vote; and in General 
Conference, perhaps one-fifth or one-sixth part would be absent. I wish you to 
come and keep as close to me and ray directions as you can. I Avisli you to go, 
after the Conference, to Georgia, Holston, and to Kentucky; and perhaps come to 
Baltimore in June, if the ordination should take place, and so come on to the 
Eastern Conference. You will have to follow my advice for your health, steel as 
you are. 

The reference to ordination has this explanation: Bishop As- 
bury had proposed the election of Eichard Whatcoat, Francis 
Poythress, and Jesse Lee, as assistant bishops in the United 
States. Ten years before, when Wesley nominated Whatcoat 
and Garrettson for the same office, the quadrennial General Con- 



470 



History of Methodism. 



ference had not been instituted and in the absence of this fed- 
eral organ the three Yearly Conferences, then held, acted on the 
proposition separately. It passed the first, was halted at the 
second, and was rejected at the third. Coke did his best to take 
it through, but failed. Indeed, the last Conference (Baltimore), 
which by numbers and position so x^reponderated as to be con- 
trolling, took him sharply to account for having, while out of 
the country and without consulting Asbury, called a Conference 
to meet in Baltimore some months in advance of the regular ses- 
sion of the Yearly Conference, and to act as a General Confer- 
ence. Coke apologized for his conduct, and entered into a written 
agreement never to exercise any episcopal authority for Ameri- 
can Methodism when out of America; and even then to be more 
considerate of coordinate powers than he had been. As this VvTiS 
not his first, so it was not his last blunder, as we shall see. 

The proposal of Asbury for the Yearly Conferences to begin 
voting on nominations for his colleagues, made by himself, was ex- 
traordinary. The New England Conference and President did 
well to give it a quietus: it seems not to have traveled farther. 
True, the exigency was pressing, but the plan for meeting it was 
bad and the precedent worse. The worthy and worn-out Bishop 
had discerned the men on whom were the eyes of the people ; and 
he felt the wants of the Church as no other man could; but he was 
"overseen" in his method of supply. His parental solicitude 
made him oblivious of the practice and principle involved when 
the three names should be going through successive Conferences, 
with his weighty indorsement, while the voters, in the absence 
of any opportunity of canvassing other names, v/ere shut up to 
the trio. His one action involved three that come before a Gen- 
eral Conference for consideration, and are considered of some 
importance: Shall the episcopacy be strengthened? "Yes," 
says the Bishop. How many ? " Three," is the response. Whom 
shall we have? The same great and guileless man, knowing all 
the preachers by name and character, feeling as a father toward 
his children, settles the question — "Whatcoat, Poythress, and 
Lee." That he meant well and nominated wisely in this, none 
could doubt. If not an abusive procedure, it was liable to abuse. 
The parental rather than the constitutional method grew up out 
of his relation to the people and preachers — they were his spir- 
itual children. It was this, or such as this, that helped to antag- 



Lee Supplies Ashun/s Place. 



471 



onize the destructive O'Kelley, who, after being committed to 
the opposition, went farther than he intended — too far to tarn 
back. It w^ouid be alike un philosophical and nnhistorical to 
suppose that there was no occasion or cause whatever for that 
fierce faction. These abortive measures of administration, 
though they make no figure in current history, may enable us in 
part to account for a schism which never can be justified.^' 

Leaving Wilbraham, Lee repaired to New Eochelle, v/liere he 
found the Bishop, somewhat improved in health, though yet suf- 
fering. In a few days they commenced their journey to the 
South, to hold the Conferences. Passing through Virginia they 
met Coke, who was supposed to be in Europe. He had just 
landed, bringing an address from the British to the American 
Conference, containing a request to cancel his engagements to 
continue among them, and to suffer him to return to England to 
devote himself to the Church in his native land. ' The Virginia 
Conference, to which this was presented, declined acting on a 
paper and a pledge of which the General Conference only could 
take cognizance, but drew up a letter, which Asbury signed. 
After stating the sole and exclusive right of the General Confer- 
ence in the premises, it affirms: "No Yearly Conference, no of- 
ficial character, dare assume to answer for that grand federal 
body. By the advice of the Yearly Conference now sitting in Vir- 
ginia, and the respect I bear to you, I write to inform you that 
in our own persons and order we consent to his return, and 'pa)'- 
fial continuance wdth you; and earnestly pray that you may have 
much peace, union, and happiness together." 

This Conference counseled the Bishop to cease traveling, at 
least until the spring, and requested Lee to proceed South and 
supply his place. This he did. He filled twenty-five appoint- 
ments for preaching in thirty days and five hundred miles, and 
reached Charleston on the 1st of January, 1798. It was nearly 
thirteen years since he had visited the city, in company with 

■^It was well, for more reasons than one, tliat this proposal miscarried. Poy- 
thress was far away in the West ; and the accurate and thoughtful McHenry had 
at this period detected the decay not only of his body, but of his mind. Poy- 
thress was relieved of the Kentucky District next year, and began to pass under 
the cloud. In 1818 he died, in Jessamine county, twelve miles from Lexington, 
at the house of his sister, Mrs. Susanna Pryor, with whom he had lived, in a state 
of derangement, for several years. (Letter of B. McHenry to Lewis Garrett — 
1823 — in Recollections of the West.) 



472 



History of Methodism. 



Bishop Asbnry and Henry AYillis, for tlie i^urpose of establish- 
ing regular Methodist worship in the place. On that occasion 
Lee jjreached the first sermon. A gentleman named Wells re- 
ceived them into his house, and was conrerted, and his family 
became the warm friends and steady adherents of the Church. 
But now he was not — God had taken him. Bishops Coke and 
Asbury happened fitly to be in Cliarleston when this first trophy 
of Methodism was gathered home to his rest in heaven, and they 
were privileged to pay mournful tribute to the memory of this 
generous and noble-minded servant of Christ. Lee could only 
go to the grave and weep there. There were now two neat houses 
of worship and a flourishing company of believers to welcome 
him and vrait on his ministry. The South Carolina Conference 
commenced on the 2d of January. The Minutes report the 
members in Society in the city at 77 whites and 421 colored; 
and in the State at 3,3o4 whites and 1,179 colored. An increase 
on the preceding year of 661 whites and 289 colored. 

As the appointments of Bishop Asbury extended into Geor- 
gia, on the adjournment of Conference Lee visited Augusta, and 
went to the southern limits of the L^nion, preaching twenty-seven 
times in thirty days. Stith Mead did a great work here. 

During the past year James King, the pastor in Charleston, had 
died — a young man "greatly esteemed" — and John Dickins, in 
Philadelphia; both of yellow fever. Since 1789 Dickins had been 
staioned there, superintending the Book Concern with economy 
and wisdom. Says the chronicler of the times: "He conducted 
the Vv'hole of his business with punctuality and integrity. He 
closed his life with uncommon joy and joeace, and had a full as- 
surance of eternal life. His death was more sensibly felt by the 
Methodist Connection in general than we had ever known or felt 
in the death of any other preacher that had died among us." 

The repeated presence of yellow fever in the Atlantic cities 
caused a change from fall to spring sessions of the Conferences, 
so as to begin in the South in the winter, and terminate in the 
extreme Eastern States in the summer. 

Pursuing his route northward, Lee reached the seat of the 
Virginia Conference in time to preach its first sermon. Of the 
service he says: "We had a most powerful, weeping, shouting- 
time; the house seemed to be filled with the presence of God; 
and I could truly say it was a time of love to my soul." It was a 



From New England to the South. 



473 



great joy to meet once more with Bishop Asbury, and to find 
him, though worn and wasted with affliction, harnessed for the 
conflict with sin, and going forth, as of yore, in the front of the 
battle. " Bishoj) Asbury exhorted for some time, and the people 
were much melted under the word." The Conference was held 
at Salem, in Mecklenburg county, in April, about four months 
from the one of the preceding 'fall ; this was done in order to fall 
in with the arrangement heretofore mentioned for holding the 
Conferences. 

Having finished in New England the visitation of the Confer- 
ences for 1798, Bishop Asbury and his traveling companions re- 
paired to the South, in order to resume their duties at the ex- 
tremity of the work, as had been done in the preceding year. 
January 1, 1799, beginning at Charleston — where a month is 
spent, including a run into Georgia — they work their way up 
northward; not taking straight lines between preaching-points 
and Conferences. And this was done the next year also, with 
the addition of Nicholas Snethen to the company, who Avas called 
the " silver trumpet." The Bishop lamented, " My bow is Aveak, 
if not broken;" and yet he preached often, and oftener exhorted 
after his younger and more vigorous co-laborers had " sermon- 
ized." His appointments were out for months in advance, some- 
times for a year; and they Avere well improved — if he could not 
preach himself, he had it done, and Av^ell done. As an illustra- 
tion of the general interest excited by these Adsitations, the fact 
is stated by the Bishop that from three to six thousand souls 
congregated Aveekly at their appointments for preaching. 

January 1, 1800, the Conference for the southern portion of 
the Church Avas again held in Charleston. " Twenty- three min- 
isters Avere present. None had died during the year, none locat- 
ed, and seA^en were received into the ministry" as itinerants. 
The reports from the different circuits, including those in Geor- 
gia, show an encouraging state of religion. The tide has turned: 
henceforth groAvth is reported from Georgia to Maine. There 
haA^e been great searchings of heart over the late divisions; sol- 
emn days of fasting and prayer; patient Avaiting and faithful 
working; and the Lord sends now prosperity. We find this en- 
try in the Bishop's journal, January 6th: "I desired Jesse Lee, 
as my assistant, to take my horse and his own, and visit, betA\-een 
this and the 7tli of February, CoosaAvhatchie, Savannah, and St. 



474 



Historij of Metliodism. 



Mary's (a ride of about four hundred miles), and to take John 
Garven to his station. The time hath been when this journey 
would have been my delight, but now I must lounge in Charles- 
ton." In those days, when preachers lived in the saddle, it re- 
quired but short notice for a long journey, and Lee accordingly 
entered upon the work prescribed the next morning. On the 
18th he reached St. Mary's — the termination of his mission. 
Here he preached in the court-house to a large congregation of 
attentive hearers. From hence he hurried on, through mud, 
water, and swamps, preaching every day. He dryly remarks: 
" The country is very good for cattle, but at present it is a poor 
place for piety or morality. Persons who violate the laws of 
their country find it convenient to flee from justice either to 
the Indians on the West or the Spaniards on the South, and 
thus get beyond the laws of the United States. I heard of some 
people," he wTites, "in the counties of Glenn and Camden, who 
v/ere grown to man's estate, and some that had families, who 
never heard a sermon until last summer, when Brother George 
Clark first came among them, preaching repentance by Jesus 
Christ." 

On his return trip Lee spent several days in Savannah, and 
improved the opportunity to visit AYhitefield's Orphan-house, 
and with sad feelings contemplated the ruin. He returned to 
Charleston February 7tli, the day appointed for his return by the 
Bishop, Vvdio on the occasion says: "Jesse Lee and George 
Dougherty came to town; the former hath been a route of about 
six hundred miles ; and my poor gray hath suffered for it." Four 
days were given to rest, preaching, and pious visiting, when the 
Bishop and his party were again in the saddle, with their faces 
to the North. The weary Asbury rejoices once more to be on 
the road and in the country : " On my way I felt as if I was let 
out of prison. Hail! ye solitary pines! the jessamine, the red- 
bud, and dogwood, how charming in full bloom! the former a 
most fragrant smell." The reports all along the line were cheer- 
ing. From the year 1795 there v/as an organized Society in 
every State, and there was now a gain of members in every one 

^ "After we had finished our business in Conference, four of the largest preadi- 
ers amongst us went to a friend's sLore and were weighed. My weight was 259 lbs. ; 
Seely Bunn's, 252; Thomas Lucas's, 245; and Thomas F. Sargeant's, 220; in all, 
976 lbs.; and all of us travel on horseback." (Jesse Lee's Journal.) 



The Ci}'cle Widens — Ashury at Home. 



475 



except Pennsylvania, and there a revival flame was kindling. 
The Chnrch in Augusta, Georgia, is organized, and begins to 
build. In the course of the previous year, says a local histo- 
rian, "our Society in the city of Kichmond, Virginia, began to 
build a meeting-house in that place, and after some time they 
finished it; but their difficulties in paying for it were very 
great." On the frontiers the circle enlarges. Southward, Oco- 
nee and Milledgeville and St. Mary's are added; eastward, Nan- 
tucket, Merrimac, Cape Cod, Cape May, and Penobscot; north- 
ward, Niagara, Montreal, Otsego, Cayuga, and Chenango; and 
westward, we have seen the extreme positions of Miami and 
Natchez occupied ; and Kanawha appears on the list of apx^oint- 
ments at the end of the century. 

Bishop Asbury, not always able to keep up with his appoint- 
ments at the extreme limits of the Connection, ever and anon lies 
by at Dromgoole's, or Merritt's, or Gough's, or Bassett's — w^ait- 
ing at these middle stations to fall in wdth his heli3ers, according 
to his strength. We look in during the w^eeks of enforced rest, 
and find him writing letters — on an average a thousand a year — 
planning the work and bringing up his journal; Avhile as one of 
the family he enters into domestic life by shelling peas wdth the 
good housewife, Avinding cotton, and teaching the children their 
lessons. He had no lack of homes, for the Master's promise 
w^as fulfilled — he had them "a hundred-fold;" but he had no 
abundance of money. He writes: "One of my friends wanted 
to borrow or beg X50 of me — he might as well have asked me for 
Peru. I showed him all the money I had in the world — about 
$12— and gave him five. Strange that neither my friends nor my 
enemies will believe that I neither have nor seek bags of money.'-" 

" His journal, at such a time, discloses his feelings as well as his afflictions: "It 
is now eight weeks since I have preached — awfully dumb Sabbaths ! I have been 
most severely tried from various quarters; my fevers, my feet, and Satan, Avould 
set in with my gloomy and nervous affections. Sometimes subject to the greatest 
effeminacy; to distress at the thought of a useless, idle life; but what.l)rought the 
heavy pang into my heart was the thought of leavin^tlie Connection without some 
proper men of their own election, to go in and out before them in my place, and 
to keep that order which I have been seeking these many years to establish. 
Lord, help me! for I am poor and needy; the hand of God hath touched me, and 
I think Satan forts himself in my melancholy, unemployed, unsocial, and inactive 
hours." His feet, he complains, ache so that he fears tliey will mortify; yet, to 
use his own descriptive words, he *4'ubs along" — "hobbles about." 



476 



History of Mefliodism. 



The fourth General Conference assembled in Baltimore, May 
6, 1800. One hundred and nineteen preachers, as members of 
the body, Avere present, and the session continued until the 20tli 
of the month. It was resolved that hereafter the General Con- 
ference should consist only of elders who had traveled four years, 
and the Annual Conferences were directed to send their journals 
to the General Conference for revision. The Bishops, who had 
previously been dependent upon private liberality or the benev- 
olence of particular societies for their support, were now au- 
thorized to look to the xlnnual Conferences for their allowance, 
each Conference having to pay its proportion of the amount nec- 
essary to be raised. This Conference recommended the pur- 
chase of ground and the erection of parsonages in each circuit. 
The annual salary of itinerants was raised four dollars per quar- 
ter; that is, instead of sixty-four dollars it was eighty dollars; 
and the rule was abolished requiring the preachers ''to give an 
ac-count of all the private gifts they received, Avhether it were 
money, clothing, or any thing else, toward their support; and it 
was to go in part of their quarterage, or else it was to be ap- 
plied to make up the deficiencies of the other preachers." 

The venerable Henry Smith, who lived to be the oldest preacher 
of his day, was awakened under the second sermon preached by 
Thomas Scott (afterward Judge Scott) on the Berkley Circuit. 
He followed Kobler in Ohio, and blessed Kentucky and Tennes- 
see with his ministry in the hardest times. Writing "Kecollec- 
tions" from "Pilgrim's Rest," Baltimore county, on the early 
events of our history, he says: 

I traveled seven years under the rule that allowed a preacher sixty-four dollars 
a year, including all marriage fees and presents, from a cravat down to a pair of 
stockings. I tliink our bisliops were under the same rule. The last time I saw 
this rule imposed was at the Baltimore Conference, held at the Stone Chapel, in 
May, 1800. In my mind I yet see the sainted Wilson Lee hand over his fees and 
presents. The world never saw a more disinterested, cross-bearing, and self-sacri- 
ficing set of ministers than the early Methodist preachers. : Nothing but a deep 
and abiding conviction of duty could induce them to volunteer in such a work. 
In those days the Methodists believed in a special call to the work of the ministry. 

The number of Conferences was increased from six to seven 
by adding the New York. The bishops were allowed to admit 
colored preachers to deacon's orders under certain limitations 
and restrictions. This rule was never inserted in the Discipline. 
The first colored deacon ordained under it was Richard Allen, 



Blchard Whatcoat Elected Bishop. 



477 



of Philadelphia, who led the first secession of colored people 
from the Church, in 1816, and was elected the first bishop of the 
African Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Bishop Coke was present at the General Conference, with an 
earnest request from the Old Country that he might be allowed 
to return. To this the Conference assented, on the conditions 
that he would return at the end of four years. The English, 
and especially the Irish, Conferences entreated for a continued 
share in his labors. "They saw in him," says their historian, 
"the spirit of missionary enterprise, combined with a perfect 
knowledge of the details of the work, together wdth a quenchless 
zeal, which was altogether marvelous. They clearly perceived 
that the Methodism of England needed such a man, and sought 
to reclaim him." 

Bishop Asbury " thought of nothing else but the resignation 
of his office;" and it is said he went to this Conference with his 
valedictory address for the occasion written out. But the first 
intimation of such a step w^as checked by the Conference, and 
they adopted resolutions of a highly complimentary character, 
thanking him for his distinguished services, and earnestly ask- 
ing him to continue them, as far as his health would permit. To 
this he consented, and the Conference resolved to elect and con- 
secrate an additional bishop. 

Prior to the election a discussion arose as to the powers of the 
new bishop, and whether he should be considered subordinate 
to Bishop Asbury, or his equal. Coke moved that the new bish- 
op, in the absence of Asbury, should present the appointments 
to the Conference for their consideration and revision; but find- 
ing the motion distasteful to the preachers, asked leave to with- 
draw it. The Conference, after two days' discussion, stood by 
the original plan, and resolved that the new bishop should be a 
joint superintendent. 

On the first ballot no one had a majority of votes; on the sec- 
ond there was a tie between Jesse Lee and Richard Whatcoat; on 
the third ballot Richard Whatcoat was elected by a majority of 
four votes. A looker-on, who subsequently became an active 
evangelist, gives us a particular account of the Sunday following: 

Sunday, the 18th, was a great day in Baltimore, among the Methodists. The or- 
dination sermon was preached by Eev, Thomas Coke, LL.D., in Light Street 
Church. Crowds at an early hour thronged the temple. The Doctor preached 



478 



History of Methodism. 



from Eev. ii. 8: "And unto the angel of the Cliiirch in Smyrna write: These 
things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive," etc. After the 
sermon, which was adapted to the occasion, Richard Whatcoat was ordained a 
bishop in the Church of God by the imposition of the hands of Dr. Coke and 
Bishop Asbury, assisted by several elders. Never were holy hands laid upon a 
holier head. In those days we went " out into the highways and hedges and com- 
pelled tliem to come in." That afternoon Jesse Lee preached in the market- 
house on Howard's Hill, from John xvii. 3: "And this is life eternal, that they 
might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." The 
Lord was there in a powerful manner. Several were converted. During this 
Conference I became acquainted Avith many choice spirits, both among the minis- 
try and laity; among the rest. Dr. Thomas Coke. I not only had the pleasure of 
hearing the Doctor preach, and make motions and speeches in the Conference, but 
also of dining with him and Bishop Asbury. The Doctor was a short man, and 
rather corpulent. He had a beautiful face, and it was full of expression, a sweet 
smile often playing over his features. His eyes were dark and his look very 
piercing. His voice was soft and full of melody, "unless raised to a very high 
pitch, and then it was harsh, discordant, and squeaking. His conversational pow- 
ers were great ; he was very entertaining."^ 

Jesse Lee felt aggrieved at a report which came to his ears 
after the election. If the cynical philosopher was right who di- 
vided mankind into two classes — those who do something, and 
those who find fault with what is done — it would not be hard to 
ascertain the class to which our Virginian belonged. He had 
done too much to escape the censure and envy of some who swell 
the ranks of the other class. The report was this: " That Bishop 
Asbury said that Brother Lee had imposed himself on him and 
on the Connection for eighteen months past, and he would have 
got rid of him long ago if he could." He went promptly to the 
Bishop, who as promptly denied the charge, and renewed his re- 
quest urgently for the continuance of Lee's services; for he felt 
that he and " Brother Whatcoat would be unequal to the demands 
of the enlarged Connection." Lee concludes his account: " So we 
went into Conference, and he spoke to the subject, and denied 
the charge, and said he was thankful for my past services, and 
did wish for them in the Conferences in future. We traced the 

report until we fixed it on T L , and he did not clear 

himself." f 

The trend of opinion is indicated not only in what is done, but 
in what fails to be done, by a legislative body. Here are a few 
items of the latter kind: 

Beminiscences of Bev. Henry Boehm. fThis T L afterward took 

"orders" in another Church. 



Great Awakening at Conference. 



479 



Brother Wells moved that the new bishop, in stationing the preachers, be aid- 
ed by a committee of not less than three nor more than four preachers, chosen by 
the Conference. Voted out, next day. 

Brother Tolleson's motion for a delegated General Conference was called up, 
and lost by a great majority. 

Brother Ormond moved "that the Yearly Conferences be authorized to nomi- 
nate and elect their own presiding elders." This was voted out. 

Ormond was a North Caroliiiian by birtli, and enjoys the rare 
distinction of a Southern radical; for after being negatived on 
one of the questions that persistently disturbed the Church's 
peace, he brought forward the other in characteristic style: 

And whereas it is further observed that the rule now existing among us pre- 
vents our members increasing the number of their slaves by purchase, and toler- 
ates an increase of number by birth, which children are often given to the ene- 
mies of the Methodists. My mind being seriously impressed with these and sev- 
eral other considerations, I move that this General Conference take the moment- 
ous subject of slavery into consideration, and make such alterations in the old rule 
as may be thought proper. 

The momentous subject was taken up a few days afterward: 

Brother Snethen moved that this General Conference do resolve that from this 
time forth no slave-holder shall be admitted into the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Negatived. 

Brother Bloodgood moved that all negro children belonging to the members of 
the Methodist Society, who shall be born in slavery after the fourth day of July, 

1800, shall be emancipated: males at years, and females at years. 

Negatived.* 

One of the features of the General Conference of 1800 was the 
religious interest which attended it. " I believe," writes Lee, " we 
never had so good a General Conference before; we had the 
greatest speaking and the greatest union of affections that we 
ever had on a like occasion. The revival of religion which took 
place in Baltimore, during the Conference, began particularly in 
Old Town, where the people held meetings in a private hoase, 
and some of the preachers attended them in the afternoon of 
each day. Several were converted. The work then began to 
spread, and souls were converted in the different meeting-houses, 
and in different private houses, both by day and by night. The 
old Christians were wonderfully stirred up to cry to God more 
earnestly, and the preachers that tarried in town for a few days 
were all on fire of love. Such a time of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord had not been felt in that town for some 



*vSee Journal of General Conference. 



480 



Hist or 11 of Met] tod ism. 



3-ears." Asbury says: "The unction that attended the Avord Avas 
great; more than one hundred souls, at different times and places, 
professed conversion during the sitting of Conference. I was 
vreary, but sat very close in Conference. My health is better 
than when we began." Bishop Whatcoat tells the story: "We 
had a most blessed time, and much preaching, fervent prayers, 
and strong exhortations through the city; while the high praises 
of a gracious God reverberated from street to street and from 
house to house. It was thought that not less than two hundred 
Avere converted during the Conference." 

The revival at the Philadelphia Conference, which began its 
session at Duck Creek, in J une, was one of the most remarkable 
that has taken place in the Church's history. Preaching and 
prayer-meeting and love-feast occupied the church, while the 
Conference met in a private dwelling. One who was present 
says: "Meetings Avere held day and night AA'ith rarely any inter- 
mission. One meeting in the church continued forty-five hours 
AA'ithout cessation. Many were converted in priA'ate houses, and 
at family prayer, as well as in the house of the Lord. This re- 
vival did immense good; the preachers returned to their work 
like flames of fire." 

This was a good beginning for the new bishop, and a reneAving 
of strength to his senior. They completed the round of Annual 
Conferences, and then turned their faces to the West, and took 
Wm. McKendree with them, to be left there in charge of that 
field, knoAA^n as the Western Conference, which included the 
Yalley of the Mississippi. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 



William McKendree : His Entrance upon the Ministry ; Transferred to the AVest 
— Camp-meetings — Great Revival — Bodily Agitations — Methodism Planted in 
Missouri and Illinois ; in Mississippi and Louisiana — Philip Cox, Enoch G eorge, 
Gwin, Walker, Blackman, Tobias Gibson — Conference in Ohio — Results. 



V V county, Virginia, July 6, 1757. His parents were both 
natives of the same State. His father was a planter, and Will- 
iam was brought up in the same occupation. The schools to 
which he had access gave him a fair English education, so that 
he was for a time employed in teaching. Nature endowed him 
with a fine and pleasing person and address, a quick apprehension, 
a sound and discriminating mind, a refined taste, and that element 
of all true greatness known as common sense. Piety quickened 
and developed his intellectual powers in a inarked degree. The 
concentration of mind and heart upon a great vocation, and the 
drawing " all his cares and studies this way," made an era in his 
mental as well as in his moral history. The following is his own 
account of his early life: 

I do not recollect to have sworn more than one profane oath in my life, yet, as 
far back as memory serves, I am conscious of the prevalence of evil passions — of a 
heart disposed to wickedness — so that, notwithstanding the restraints by which I 
Avas kept within the bounds of a respectable morality, my heart was far from be- 
ing right with God. It Avas " deceitful and desperately wicked," Of this deplor- 
able state of things I became exquisitely sensible by reading the Holy Scriptures 
in school when I Avas a small boy; and with the simplicity of a child I yielded to 
the dictates of conscience, refrained from AA'hat appeared to be Avrong, and as a 
child endeavored to imitate those holy men of God as set forth in the Scriptures. 
I would frequently seek solitary places in the Avoods, there fall upon my face and 
weep freely Avhile I thought I Avas talking to Jehovah, This practice I folloAved 
until I became so serious that I was taken notice of. The school-master (avIio was 
a vain man, and boarded at my father's) and others began to laugh at me, and 
make remarks, and finally laughed me out of all my seriousness. I then heed- 
lessly pursued the pleasures of the w^orld, and do not remember to have had any 
more serious impressions for several years. My own experience has led me to care 
for those who are under religious impressions in their early days. 

Some time after the Methodist preachers came into the neighborhood, a re- 
vival of religion took place; my father, mother, and several others, became pro- 
fessors of religion, and many joined the Church. I was then deeply convinced of 
sin, and resolved to set out and serve the Lord.'^ 




was born in King William 



31 



* The Life and Times of McKendree, by Bishop Paine. 



(481) 



482 



History of Methodism. 



Ill conformity with this resolution, as a seeker of religion he 
was received on trial, but halting by the way, he failed to obtain 
the prize. His niKlisguised representation of his case shows the 
danger of awakened persons associating with companions, how- 
ever civil, who neither fear nor love God: "But my attachment 
to worldly associates, Avho were civil and respectful in their de- 
portment, had grown with my growth, and my conviction was not 
accompanied with suflicient firniness to dissolve the connection; 
and their conduct being accommodated to my reformed manners, 
I continued to enjoy the friendship both of the Society and of 
the world, but in a very imperfect degree. They continued to 
counteract and impair each other, until the love of the world 
prevailed, and my relish for genuine piety departed. I peace- 
ably retired from the Society, while my conduct continued to 
secure their friendship." 

Young McKendree bore his part in the Revolution, and was at 
Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. In 1820 he passed 
over the ground with a friend and showed him where his camp 
was. A spell of sickness brought him into the jaws of death. 
He prayed as sinners pray when great fear is upon them, and 
vowed as they vow. But his confidence in his own sincerity was 
shaken by the startling question, suggested he knew not how: 
" If the Lord would raise you up and convert your soul, would 
you be willing to go and preach the gospel?" He shrunk from 
the answer, and trembled at this test of obedience. With return- 
ing strength and health he went back to the vain Avorld with les- 
sened confidence in promises of amendment made under fear: 

In this situation I continued until the great revival of religion took place in 
Bruns\Yick Circuit, under Mr. John Easter, in 1787. On a certain Sabbath I vis- 
ited a gentleman "who lived in the neighborhood; lie and his lady -were going to 
church, to hear a Mr. Gibson, a local Methodist preacher. The church "was 
open to any occupant — the clergy having abandoned their flocks and the 
country and fled home to England. My friend declined going to church, sent 
a servant with his "wife, and "we spent the time in reading a comedy and drinking 

"v\'ine. ]\rrs. staid late at church, but at last, "when "we "were impatient for 

dinner, slie returned, and brought strange things to our ears. AVith astonishment 
flushing her countenance slie began to tell whom slie left "in a flood of tears," 
-who "were "do"wn on the floor," who were "converted," what an "uproar" was 
going on among the people — cries for mercy and shouts for joy, etc. She also in- 
formed us that Mr. John Easter was to preach at that place on the following 
Tuesday. My heart was touched at her representation. I resolved to seek relig- 
ion, and began in good earnest to pray for it that evening. 



McKendree Converted — Enters Upon his Life Work. 433 



Tuesday I went to church, fasting and praying. Mr. Easter preached from 
John iii. 19-22, "And tliis is the condemnation, that light has come into the 
world," etc. The word reached my heart. From this time I had no peace of 
mind; I was completely miserable. My heart was broken up. A view of God's 
forbearance, and of the debasing sin of ingratitude, of which I had been guilty in 
grieving the Spirit, overwhelmed me with confusion. Now my conscience roared 
like a lion. "The pains of hell got hold of me." I concluded that I had com- 
mitted the "unpardonable sin," and had thoughts of giving up all for lost. For 
three days I might have said, " My bed shall comfort me, then thou scarest me 
Avith dreams, and terrifiest me through visions, so that my soul chooseth stran- 
gling and death rather than life." But in the evening of the third day deliverance 
came. While Mr. Easter was preaching I was praying as well as I could, for I 
^vas almost ready to despair of mercy. Suddenly doubts and fears fled, hope 
sprung up in my soul, and the burden was removed. I knew that God was love, 
that there was mercy even for me, and I rejoiced in silence. 

Mr. Easter confidently asserted that God had converted my soul, but I did not 
believe it, for I had formed to myself an idea of conversion — how it would come, 
and what must follow; and what I then felt did not answer to my idea; therefore 
I did not believe that I was converted, but I knew there was mercy for me, and 
I greatly rejoiced in that. However, I soon found myself in an uncomfortable 
condition, for I immediately began to seek and to expect a burden of sin answer- 
able to my idea, in order to get converted. But the burden was gone, and I could 
not recover it. With desire I sought rest, but I thought that greater distress than 
I had felt must precede that blessing, and therefore refused to be comforted. And 
thus for several weeks I experienced all the anguish of grasping at an object of 
the greatest importance, and missing my aim — of laying hold of life and salva- 
tion, then falling back into the vortex of disappointment and distress. But deliv- 
erance was at hand. Mr. Easter came round, and his Master came with, him, and 
in the time of meeting the Lord, who is merciful and kind, blessed me with the 
witness of the Spirit; and then I could rejoice indeed — yes, with joy unspeakable 
and full of glory! Within twenty-four hours after this I was twice tempted to 
think my conversion was delusive, and not genuine, because I did not receive the 
witness of the Spirit at the same time. But I instantly applied to the throne of 
grace, and, in the duty of prayer, the Lord delivered me from the enemy ; and 
from that day to this I have never doubted my conversion. I have pitied, and do 
still pity, those who, under the influence of certain doctrines, are led to give the 
preference to a doubting experience, and therefore can only say, "If I ever was 
converted," "I hope I am converted," "I fear I never was converted," etc., but 
can never say, "We know that we have passed from death unto life." 

The same preacher by whom he had believed followed, " not 
long after," with a sermon on sanctification. McKendree exam- 
ined the doctrine, and found it true; examined himself, and 
"found remaining corruption, and diligently sought the blessing 
held forth." In its pursuit he says, " My soul grew in grace and 
in the faith that overcomes the world;" and he thus concludes 
the description of this phase of his experience: "One morning 



484 



Histonj of Metlwdlsm. 



I walked into the field, and while I was musing, such an over- 
whelming power of the Divine Being overshadowed me as I had 
never experienced before. Unable to stand, I sunk to the ground 
more than filled with transport. My cup ran over, and I shouted 
aloud. Had it not been for a new set of painful exercises which 
now came upon me, I might have rejoiced 'evermore;' but my 
heart was enlarged, and I saw more clearly than ever before the 
danger of those in an unconverted state. For such persons I 
prayed with anxious care. At times, when called upon to pray 
in public my soul would get into an agony, and the Lord would 
in great compassion pour out his Spirit. Souls were convicted 
and converted, and Zion rejoiced abundantly in those days. 
AYithont a thought of preaching, I began to tell my acquaint- 
ances what the Lord had done for me and could do for them. 
It had its effect, and lasting impressions were made. Thus I 
was imperceptibly led on until the preachers and people began 
to urge me to speak more publicly." 

From preaching he drew back. It was too high, it was too 
heavy. The thought of appearing in public as God's embassa- 
dor overwhelmed him. His father saw his silent struggle and 
perplexity, and gently warned him not to quench the Spirit. 
Again his spiritual father came to his help: " In the ninth month 
after I received the witness of my acceptance, the Conference 
came on. It was held in Petersburg. Mr. Easter requested me 
to fix myself and attend. I did so, and he kindly took me to his 
lodging. Upon his going to the Conference-room he invited me 
to come up at a certain hour and see the preachers. I went ac- 
cordingly, and the first thing after prayer was to read out the 
preachers' stations, and I was appointed to Mecklenburg Circuit, 
with Philip Cox. This was an unexpected shock. When dis- 
missed I was walking in another room, when my presiding elder 
came , in and, discovering my agitation, took me in his arms and 
in the most feeling manner said, ' While you were standing be- 
fore the Conference I believe God showed me that he had a work 
for you to do.' This had the most happy effect. It determined 
my unsettled mind," 

McKendree has entered upon his life work, and we leave his 
history to develop with the Church. Much depends on a young 
preacher's first associations in the ministry, and he was fortu- 
nate in this. Philip Cox was an Englishman who led out into the 



Mecklenburg Circuit — Pliilip Cox and EiiocJi George. 485 



itinerancy not a few chief ministers. The next year (1789) Cox 
called out Enoch George, a yonng man even more diffident than 
McKendree. He introduced him to Asbury, and the Bisho]3 
sent him with a letter to a preacher who was forming a circuit 
at the head-waters of the French Broad and the Catawba, three 
hundred miles distant. "I was astonished and staggered," says 
George, at the prospect of this work, but resorted to my tried 
friend Cox, who animated me with his advice and directions, and 
I set off with his benedictions and the blessing of the Lord. 
Thus," he adds, "I began my itineranc3\" Asbury knew that if 
any thing could be made of the " beardless boy " presented to him 
by Cox, the heroic work of the frontier would do it. Cox was a 
very small man. At one time he felt so poorly that he thought 
he must quit the itinerancy; but he had himself weighed, and 
found that he weighed a hundred pounds. He then said, "It 
shall never be said that I have quit traveling while I v>'eigh a 
hundred pounds." He married when he was upward of fifty 
years old, but continued to travel until he died. Just before his 
death (1793) he observed that it was such a day of peace and 
comfort to his soul as he had seldom felt. 

Philip Cox gave such attention to selling and distributing 
books and tracts that he was called the Assistant Book Agent. 
He bore a conspicuous part in the great revival of 1787 that 
brought in McKendree. Eight hundred were converted in 
Amelia Circuit, sixteen hundred in Sussex, and eighteen hun- 
dred in Brunswick. While Philip Cox was preaching at the fu- 
neral of a little child, on the text, " Except ye be converted, and 
become as little children, jq cannot enter into the kingdom of 
heaven," to a congregation of a hundred, "fifty of whom were 
old professors, out of the other fifty the Lord spoke peace to 
thirty before the meeting broke up." Cox, having been lamed 
by an accident, x^i'^ached this sermon sitting on a table. The 
next day he preached again, in the woods, sitting in a chair 
placed on a table, and more than sixty souls were converted. 

The genuineness of this great work "received a thousand at- 
testations in the altered lives, persevering fidelity, and increas- 
ing holiness of those vrho were brought from darkness unto light, 
and from the power of Satan unto God." It was a great ad- 
vantage to begin one's ministry amid such scenes of saving 
pov/er, and under such a guide and leader as Philip Cox. 



486 



History of Methodism. 



McKendree, after preacliing on circuits in his native State and 
the Carolinas, ^yas put in charge of a district which extended 
from tlie Chesapeake Bay over the Blue Bidge and terminated at 
the foot of the Alleghany Mountains. Next, his admirable preach- 
ing and administrative abilities found scope in a district of sim- 
ilar dimensions in the Baltimore Conference. In the fall of 1800 
Bishops Asbury and Whatcoat passed through his field of labor, 
and took him with them to the Western Conference, which 
met at Bethel, Kentucky, in October. McKendree was accus- 
tomed to "keep house in his saddle-bags." It was said he could 
pack more into them, and in better order, than other men. He 
therefore went at three hours' notice. He was appointed to the 
oversight of the whole Conference in the character of a presid- 
ing elder of the district. If opportunities make great men, here 
was an opportunity. His character devoloped, his reputation and 
usefulness grew, and his health was established. 

Quitting Greenbrier, and passing through Wythe Court-house, 
they "began to bend for Holston." "My mind," says Asbury, 
'^hath been kept in peace; I had enough to do to drive; I could 
think but little — only now and then sending up a message to 
heaven." Leaving his chaise with Vanpelt, he borrows a horse, 
and inducts the presiding elder into wilderness-travels by the 
way of Bean's Station and Cumberland Gap. At Conference 
ten traveling preachers were present; the session lasted but two 
days. Two were admitted on probation, one member located, 
fourteen local and four traveling preachers were ordained. 

After the session Asbury, Wliatcoat, and McKendree traveled 
and preached together from the center of Kentucky to Nashville. 
On the journey McKendree, in the grand field where he vras to 
develoj) and which was to be developed by him, located a church 
in the "barrens," a region rich in soil but scarce of trees. One 
of his first appointments was to have a local preacher join him 
there and hold a meeting; " and in the course of the year a soci- 
ety was formed, and a gracious work commenced, and they built 
a church ; but as the timber was low, logs could not be found of 
sufficient length to build a four-square house large enough to 
hold the congregation, so they built a house with twelve corners." 

Asbury and his company lodged a few miles in the country on 
Saturday night, wdiere he preached. "Brothers McGee, Sugg, 
Jones, and Si)eer, local preachers, came to meet me. We had a 



Tlte Great Bevival Year in the West. 



487 



small shout in the camp of Israel." The Key. William Lambutli 
was the preacher in charge of Cumberland.^'' Asbury says: 

October 19, 1800. — I rode to Nashville, long heard of but never seen by me 
until now. Some thought the congregation would be small, but I believed it 
would be large. Not less than one thousand people were in and out of the stone 
church, which if floored, ceiled, and glazed, wouJd be a grand house. AVe had 
three hours' public exercises. Mr. McKendree upon "The wages of sin is death ; " 
myself on Eom. x. 14, 15; Brother Whatcoat on "When Christ, who is our life, 
shall appear, tlien shall ye also appear with him in glory." We returned the 
same evening, and had a night meeting at Mr. Dickinson's. 

His old North Carolina friend, and the Gains of the Church, 
had moved to the West a year before, and opened a farm twelve 
miles from Nashville; and he adds: "I had a feeling sight of my 
dear old friend Green Hill, and his wife. Who would have 
thought we should ever meet in this distant land? I had not 
time, as formerly, to go to their house to eat and sleep." 

Next day they were in the midst of new scenes — a camp-meet- 
ing, at Drake's Creek Meeting-house. It was under the direc- 
tion of five Presbyterian preachers — Craighead, Hodge, Eankin, 
McGee, and Adair. "A sacramental solemnity" of four days 
was being concluded. The visitors were invited to preach. 
Asbury says: "We came in, and Brother McKendree preached 
upon Jer. iv. 14; after him Brother Whatcoat upon 'We know 
that we are of God;' I also spoke on 'The work of God.' " 

Tuesday, 21. — Yesterday, and especially during the night, Avere Avitnessed 
scenes of deep interest. In the intervals between preaching the people refreshed 
themselves and horses, and returned upon the ground. The stand v»'as in the open 
air, embosomed in a wood of lofty beech-trees. The ministers of God — Method- 
ists and Presbyterians — united their labors, and mingled with the child-like sim- 
plicity of primitive times. Fires blazing here and there dispelled the darkness, 
and the shouts of the redeemed captives, and tlie cries of precious souls struggling 
into life, broke the silence of midnight. The weather was delightful — as if heav- 
en smiled, whilst mercy flowed in abundant streams of salvation to perishing sin- 
ners. We suppose there were at least thirty souls converted at this meeting. I 
rejoice that God is visiting the sons of the Puritans, who are candid enough to 
acknowledge their obligations to the Methodists. 

This is known as the great reviyal year in the West. No re- 
markable preacher like Whitefield passed through the land, but 

^His son, Eev. John B. Lambuth, built the first Methodist church in Mobile 
(1827), called in later days the "Old Bee-hive;" and his grandson, Eev. J. W\ 
Lambuth, has been a missionary to China since 1852. 



488 History of MetJiocUsm. 

tlie uncommon work seems to liave begun and continued in the 
use of the common means of grace. Worldliness, immorality, 
infidelity, were prevalent and poAverful. It required a mighty 
shaking to save the land. To arrest and to impress the public 
mind a striking display of divine influence was necessary, and 
the God of all grace was pleased to grant it. Ministers had 
faithfully preached the word and endured hardness. Sowers 
had gone forth weeping, bearing precious seed. But immigra- 
tion brought in an overwhelming population, and new scenes and 
adventures absorbed the people. Iniquity abounded. When the 
enemy came in like a flood, then the Lord lifted up a banner. 
The Church had for years barely been able to hold its own — here 
standing still and there receding. Power from on high came; ' 
feebleness was made strong, aud like a conquering armj^ it moved 
forward. No change in joolitical administration, no turn or 
opening of the currents of trade or travel, could possibly have 
such an effect upon the West as this revival. It began within 
the old Cumberland Circuit, where McHenry and Wilkerson 
and Page, and others like them, had bestowed much labor. In 
1798 William Burke served it alone. He says: "I had not the 
pleasure of seeing the face of a traveling preacher through the 
entire year. The circuit had become very large, the country was 
settling very fast, and many additions to the Charch made by 
ceTtificate. During this year many local preachers settled in 
the bounds of the circuit: the Eev. John McGee at Dixon 
Springs, and the Eev. Jesse Walker on White's Creek." Settled 
within the same territory v/ere three or four earnest Presbyte- 
rian preachers, one of whom was the younger brother of John 
McGee. These two brothers were honored instruments in pro- 
moting the revival and uniting the two denominations in it. They 
were born in Guilford county. North Carolina, of Presbyterian 
parents. The elder brother became a Methodist preacher, 
and the. younger, converted under his ministry, took orders in 
the Presbyterian Church; but they continued of one heart and 
one mind. The Hon. and Pev. Green Hill, a few years before 
locating in Wilson county, went on a tour through the lower part 
of the Cnmberland Circuit, preaching and baptizing. "At a new 
town on the south side of Cumberland River, twelve miles below 
Clarksville," he preached, and says : " I had much liberty in speak- 
ing. The people were attentive, and flexible as melted wax. I 



Camp-meetings and the Bevival. 



489 



hope good was clone." Four days later: "We then went up 
to Winters's (thirteen miles), and I preached to an attentive 
congregation. Three Baptist preachers and one Presbyterian 
preacher were present, and all spoke in turn, after I had preached, 
but without controversy, and parted very affectionately." 

It Avas into this neighborhood that John McGee, with his 
Presbyterian brother, came on a preaching tour. We give John 
McGee's account of it: 

We loved, and prayed, and preached together; and God was pleased to own 
and bless us and our labors. In the year 1799 we agreed to make a tour througli 
the Barrens, toward Ohio, and concluded to attend a sacramental solemnity in the 
Kev. Mr. McGready's congregation, on Ked Eiver, in our Avay. When we came 
there I was introduced by my brother, and received an invitation to address the con- 
gregation from the pulpit ; and I knoAV not that ever God favored me with more light 
and liberty than he did eacli day while I endeavored to convince the peojDle they 
were sinners, and urged the necessity of repentance, and of a change from nature 
to grace, and held up to their view the greatness, freeness, and fullness of salva- 
tion, which was in Christ Jesus, for lost, guilty, condemned sinners. My brother 
and the Rev. Mr. Hodge preached with much animation and liberty. The people 
felt the force of trutli, and tears ran down their cheeks; but all was silent until 
Monday, the last day of the feast. Mr. Hodge gave a useful discourse; an inter- 
mission was given, and I was appointed to preach. AVhile Mr. Hodge was preach- 
ing a woman in the east end of the house got an uncommon blessing, broke through 
order, and shouted for some time, and then sat down in silence. At the close of the 
sermon Messrs. Hodge, McGready, and Eankin went out of the house; my brother 
and myself sat still ; the people seemed to have no disposition to leave their seats. 
My brother felt such a power come on him that he quit his seat and sat down on 
the floor of the pulpit (I suppose, not knowing what he did). A power which 
caused me to tremble was upon me. There was a solemn weeping all over the 
Jiouse. Having a wish to preach, I strove against my feelings; at length I rose 
up and told the people that I was aj^pointed to preach, but there was a greater 
than I preaching, and exhorted them to let the Lord God Omnipotent reign in 
their hearts, and to submit to him, and their souls should live. Many broke si- 
lence ; the woman in the east end of the house shouted tremendously. I left tlie 
pulpit to go to her, and as I went along through the people it was suggested to me. 
You know these people are much for order, they will not bear this confusion ; go 
back and be quiet." I turned to go back, and was near falling. The power of 
God was strong upon me; I turned again, and losing sight of the fear of man, I 
went through the house shouting and exhorting with all possible ecstasy and en- 
ergy, and the floor was soon covered with the slain. Their cries for mercy pierced 
the heavens, and mercy came down. Some found forgiveness, and many went 
away from that meeting feeling unutterable agonies of soul for redemption in the 
blood of Jesus. This was the beginning of that glorious revival of religion in 
this country which was so great a blessing to thousands; and from tliis meeting 
camp- meetings took their rise. One man, for want of horses for all his family to 
ride and attend the meeting, fixed up his wagon, in which he took them and his 



490 



Historij of Methodism. 



provisions, and lived on the ground througliout the meeting. He had left his 
Avorldly cares behind him, and had nothing to do but attend on divine service. 

Tlie next meeting was a camp-meeting. A number of wagons loaded with peo- 
ple came together and camped on the ground, and tlie Lord was present and ap- 
proved of their zeal by sealing a pardon to about forty souls. The next camp- 
meeting was on the Eidge, wliere there vras an increase of people, and carriages 
of diflerent descriptions, and a great many preachers of the Presbyterian and Meth- 
odist orders, and some of the Baptist — but tlie latter Avere generally opposed to 
the work. Preaching commenced, and the people prayed, and tlie power of God 
attended. The nights were trub,^ awful. The camp-ground was Avell illuminiited; 
the j)eople were differently exercised — some exhorting, some shouting, some pray- 
ing, and some crying for mercy, while others lay as dead men on the ground. At 
this meeting it Avas computed that one hundred souls Avere converted. But per- 
haps tlie greatest meeting Ave ever witnessed in tliis country took jjlace shortly 
after, on Desha's Creek, near Cumberland Eiver. Many thousands of peojDle at- 
tended. The mighty poAver and mercy of God were manifested. The people fell 
before the word like corn before a storm of Avind, and many rose from the dust 
with divine glory shining in their countenances, and gave glory to God in such 
strains as made the hearts of stubborn sinners to tremble; and after the first gust 
of praise, they AA^ould break forth in volleys of exhortation. 

Camp-meetings grew out of the revival, and became a means 
of prolonging and extending it. Originally designed to meet 
the wants of a sparsely settled country, and to make a small sup- 
ply of preaching go as far as possible, there is a principle which 
makes them useful to other communities. The moral and relig- 
ious power of association, cessation from labor, abstraction of 
mind and body from home-life and its cares,, concentrated atten- 
tion to one thing, and that the most important of all things, for 
days together, under circumstances most favorable for instruc- 
tion and exhortation — these have commended the camp-meeting 
to old and dense communities, and made it a religious institution 
of our current century. From the v/agon-cover and rude arbor 
with fresh-scented leaves, located where there is much water for 
man and beast; from the straw-floored tent and pine-knot fire- 
stand, camp-meetings, in many places, have come to represent 
taste and comfort, and even luxury, in their structures and ar- 
rangements. In this direction lies their danger. They may be 
useful still, but their golden days date back to virgin forests 
and new settlements, when men came to the preaching at a time 
the preaching could not go to them. 

From Tennessee through Southern Kentucky the revival 
spread until 1801, when its marvels were seen and felt in middle 
Kentucky; and with rudely improvised camp-meetings the scene 



The Kentuchy Wilderness AUaze. 491 



extended into the Nortli-west, and moved eastward. By 1802 
camp-meetings were established east of the mountains, and from 
New England to Mississippi have continued to this day. Tens 
of thousands v/ere awakened and converted; scoffers were 
strangely rebuked; fear fell upon the people, and many fled to 
escape yielding. In America, as in England, bodily agitations 
and exercises attended spiritual excitement, and ivere equally an 
offense to some and a Avonder to all.'" In this respect no locali- 
ties in the West exceeded those in which Presbyterian ministers 
w'ere settled. William Burke describes a quarterly-meeting for 
Lexington Circuit, in June, 1801: "On Saturday we had some 
indications of a good work. On Saturday night w^e had preach- 
ing in different parts of the neighborhood, Avhich was the custom ; 
so that every local preacher and exhorter v/as employed in the 
work. Success attended the meetings, and on Sunday morning 
they came in companies, singing and shouting on the road. Love- 
feast was opened Sunday morning at eight o'clock, and such was 
the power and presence of God that the doors were throw^n open, 
and the work became general, and continued till Monday after- 
noon, during which time numbers experienced justification by 
faith in the name of Jesus Christ. The work now spread into 
the several circuits. Presbyterian congregations were univers- 
ally wakened up — McNamer's, on Cabin Creek; Barton Stone's, 
at Cane Ridge; Reynolds's, in Paris; Lyle's, at Salem; Ran- 
kin's, at Walnut Hills; Blythe's, at Lexington and Woodford; 
Walsh's, at Cane Run." 

A well known-writer of Kentucky, in the Methodist Magazhie 
of sixty years ago, describes the advent of the revival: 

The Eev. AVm. McKendree, jaresitling elder of the district, \vas in the lower 
part of the State about the commencement of the revival, and became much en- 
gaged in it. In the latter part of 1800, or early in 1801, he came up to the center 
of the State, and in many places was the first to bear the tidings of these singular 
meetings, which had recently commenced, and had so greatly attracted the atten- 
tion of multitudes. I shall never forget the looks of the people who had assem- 
bled in a congregation composed mostly of Methodists and Presbyterians, and their 
adherents, when, after the conclu.sion of a pathetic sermon, he gave an interesting 
statement of the progress of it from what he had seen. Whilst he spoke the very 
sensations of his soul glowed in his countenance. He described them in their 
native simplicity: he told of the happy conversion of hundreds; how the x^eople 
continued in their exercises of singing, praying, and preaching on the ground, 
surrounded by wagons and tents, for days and nights together; that many were so 



*See pages 158-161 for an explanation of these phenomena. 



492 



History of Methodism. 



affected that they fell to the ground like men slain in battle. The cries of tlic 
penitents and rapture of the healed appeared to be brought to our view ; and that 
the \York, instead of declining, was progressing to tlie interior. After this de- 
scription given by him, it was unnecessary to exhort the faithful to look for tlie 
like among themselves. Tlieir hearts had already begun to beat in unison with 
his, wliilst sinners were generally melted into tears. As for my own feelings, 
though a stranger to religion at that time, they will never be forgotten — I felt, 
and I wept. 

These meetings began, as the season permitted, to make their gradual approach 
toward the center of the State. It was wonderful to see what an effect their ap- 
proach made upon the minds of the people. Here in the wilderness were thou- 
sands and tens of thousands hungry for the bread of life. A general move was 
visible in the congregations previously to the arrival of these meetings. The de- 
vout Christians appeared to be filled with hope. Their hearts were greatly en- 
larged to pray for the prosperity of Zion. The formalists vrere troubled with very 
uneasy sensations; backsliders became terrified; the wicked in general were either 
greatly alarmed or struck with solemn awe. Indeed, such was the commotion 
that every circle of the community appeared to have their whole attention arrest- 
ed. Many v\'ere the conjectures respecting these meetings. Things, however, did 
not continue long to keep the attention of the people in suspense. The camp- 
meetings began to approach nearer and nearer to the center; one meeting after an- 
other was appointed in succession; and the number that attended them is almost 
incredible to tell. When collected on the ground, and whilst the meetings con- 
tinued, such crowds would be j)assing and repassing that the roads, paths, and 
woods appeared to be literally strewn with people. Whole settlements and neigh- 
borhoods would appear to be vacated; and such was the draught from them that 
it was only here and there that a solitary house would contain an aged house- 
keeper — ^young and old generally pressing through every difiiculty to see the 
camp-meeting. 

The Presbyterians and Methodists now united in them; hence it was that thev 
took the name of General Camp-meetings. In consequence of so great a collec- 
tion of people, it frequently happened that several jDreachers v/ould be speaking 
at once. jSTor were they at a loss for pulpits — stumps and logs served as tempo- 
rary stands from which to dispense the word of life. At night the whole scene 
was awfully sublime."^^ 

At Cabin Creek and Point Pleasant were memorable scenes. 
The meeting at Indian Creek, Kentucky, began on the 24th of 
July, and continued five days. The general camp-meeting, held 
at Cane Eiclge, seven miles from Paris, Bourbon county, began 
on the 6th day of August, and continued a Aveek. The Pev. Barton 
W. Stone, a leading Presbyterian minister in Kentucky, describes 
certain phenomena that prevailed: "The bodily agitations or ex- 
ercises attending the excitement in the beginning of this century 
were various, and called by various names: as the falling exercise, 



"^'Methodist Magazine, Vol. II., pp. 221-273. 



W()nde}'ful Bodily Agitations. 



493 



the jerks, the dancing exercise, the Laughing exercise, and so on. 
The falling exercise was very common among all classes— the 
saints and sinners of every age and grade, from the philoso]oher 
to the clown. The subject of this exercise v/ould generally, with 
a piercing scream, fall like a log on the floor or earth, and ap- 
pear as dead." And "of thousands of similar cases" he gives 
specimens. The "jerks" sometimes affected the whole body, 
sometimes a part of the body. The same writer and eye-witness 
continues : 

AVhen the head alone was affected, it would be jerked backward and forward, 
or from side to side, so quickly that the features of the face could not be distin- 
guished. When the whole system was affected, I have seen the person stand in 
one place and jerk backward aiid forward in quick succession, the head nearly 
touching tlie floor behind and before. All classes — saints and sinners, the strong 
as well as the weak — were tluis affected. I have inquired of those thus affected 
if they could not account for it, but some have told me that those v.-ere among the 
happiest seasons of their lives. I have seen some wicked persons thus affected, 
and all the time cursing the jerks, while tliey were thrown to the earth with vio- 
lence. Though so awful to behold, I do not remember that any one of the thou- 
sands I have seen thus affected ever sustained any injury in body. This Avas as 
strange as the exercise itself 

The laughing exercise was frequent, confined solely to the religious. It was a 
loud, hearty laughter, but it excited laughter in none that saw it. The subject 
appeared rapturously solemn, and his laughter excite'd solemnity in saints and 
sinners. It was truly indescribable. 

The running exercise was notliing more than that persons feeling something 
of these bodily agitations, through fear attempted to run away, and thus escape 
from them.; but it commonly happened that they ran not far before they fell, where 
they became so agitated that they could not proceed any farther. 

I knew a young physician, of a celebrated family, Avho came some distance to a 
big meeting to see the strange things he had heard of He and a young lady had 
sportively agreed to watch over and take care of each other if either should fall. 
At length the physician felt sonietliing very uncommon, and started from tlie con- 
gregation to run into the woods. He was discovered running as for life, but did 
not proceed far before he fell down, and there lay until he submitted to the Lord, 
and afterward became a zealous member of the Church. Such cases were common. 

"Thus have I," says Mr. Stone, "given a brief account of the 
wonderful things that appeared in the great excitement in the 
beginning of this century. That there were many eccentricities 
and much fanaticism in this excitement was acknowledged by 
its warmest advocates; indeed, it would have, been a wonder if 
such things had not appeared in the circumstances of that time. 
Yet the good effects were seen and acknowledged in every neigh- 



494 



History of Methodism. 



borliood and among the different sects. It silenced contention 
and promoted unity for awhile." 

McKendree's presence in the West at this time was opportune. 
He not only promoted the revival, in every healthful aspect, but 
guided the Church safely and to the best issues in the midst of 
its scenes. The floods were out. Methodism spread all sail, and 
was stronger in numbers and in every other respect from that 
blessed day forward. The union between Methodists and Pres- 
byterians for cooperation was not allowed to end in disinte- 
gration. This union extended to several things, including 
joint committees empowered to make regulations and to appoint 
preachers for the camp-meetings and sacramental occasions. Mc- 
Kendree took care that its termination should be without odium 
or loss. The peculiarities of Methodist usages and doctrines he 
firmly maintained — class-meetings and love-feasts with closed 
doors, and itinerant preaching; and wdiere they had been sus- 
pended or had faded out, he brought them into position again.f 
The Presbyterian confederates fared not so well. 

Methodism has been defined " a missionary Church in organ- 
ization, and a revival Church in spirit." It was therefore well 
adapted to the revival — its scenes and situation. The doctrines 
that were preached in the revival "were Methodistic: universal 
redemption; free salvation, full salvation, present salvation; jus- 
tification by faith; regeneration by the Holy Ghost; the witness 
of the Holy Spirit that the believer is born of God; the joy of 
religion, which is the fruit of the Spirit; and to-day is the day 
of salvation. The methods were Methodistic: the presiding eld- 
er marshaled his hosts at given points; the system of Church- 
government furnished a leader, and the off-hand, extemporane- 
ous style of the pulpit was all in place. Hence camp-meetings 
wwe continued, and have, become a Methodist peculiarity and 

Early Times in Middle Tennessee, pp. 70-75. t Our McKendree's advice to 
preachers and people was: "Hold fast to your doctrine and discipline. Others 
may get along without rule, but we cannot." This was wdiolesome and seasonable 
advice, and was attended to. It gave offense to some, but was a means of keeping 
us together, and we prospered. But, mournful to tell, those w^ho got above creeds, 
forms, and confessions, while they professed to be Christians, went from one ex- 
treme to another, till three of their most zealous and flaming ministers (Presby- 
terian) landed in Sliakerism ; one, if not more, became an Arian ; one, at least, 
went among the Christ-ians ; and the rest held fast, or returned to, their Confes- 
sion of Faith. (H. Smith's Recollections of an Old Itinerant, pp. 59, 60.) 



The Western Conference. 



495 



possession. But there was an unusual strain on the other party. 
Barton W. Stone afterward united with the followers of Alexan- 
der Campbell, and Bankin, with two other Presbyterian ministers, 
joined the Quakers. Among the members were Marsh allites 
and Stoneites: some who affected uncommon zeal denounced 
confessions of faith, Church discipline, and all such tilings. 
The Arminian tendency of the Cumberland Presbytery, and their 
refusal to withhold license from preachers who were useful and 
acceptable to the community, but were not classically educated, 
brought about a serious and permanent division of the Presby- 
terian Church, and resulted in the organization of the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church. "But," says an actor in those times, 
" amidst these convulsions in the religious community, the Meth- 
odists kept on the even tenor of their way, adhering to their dis- 
cipline, and teaching that system of doctrine which was not only 
the popular but the useful doctrine in the revival." 

When the Western Conference met at Strother's, near Gallatin, 
Tennessee, Oct. 2, 1802, Asbury was present, but too feeble to 
preach. He says: "I was able to ordain, by employing Brother 
McKendree to examine those who were presented, and to station 
the preachers." Two men of mark were admitted on trial — Jesse 
Walker and J ames Gwin. The work had so enlarged that it was 
found necessary to divide the one district into three : the Holston 
District, with Jolm Watson; and the Cumberland, with John 
Page, as presiding elders. McKendree remained on the Kentucky 
District. The Bishop being very infirm, and suffering from long 
rides on horseback, McKendree accompanied him on his return 
through East Tennessee. Asbury's journal speaks of his kind- 
ness on this trip, and frequently alludes to his preaching. 
"Brother McKendree made me a tent of his own and John Wat- 
son's blankets, and happily saved me from taking cold, while I 
slept about two hours under my grand marquee. Brother Mc- 
Kendree threw his cloak over the limb of a tree, and he and his 
companion took shelter underneath and slept also. I think I 
will never more brave the wilderness without a tent." After 
some time he adds: "I have been sick for twenty-three days — 
ah, the tale of woe I might relate! My dear McKendree had to 
lift me up and down from my horse, like a helpless child. For 
my sickness and suffering, I conceive I am indebted to sleeping 
uncovered in the wilderness." 



496 History of Methodism. 

At the Conference, October, 1803, near Cynthiana, Bishop As- 
bury found it necessary to form a new district north-west of the 
Ohio Eiver, wath William Burke as presiding elder, embracing 
the extensive territory along the waters of the Muskingum, the 
Little Kanawha, Hockliocking, Scioto, Miami, and Guyandotte 
rivers. The Western Conference again met at Gerizim, in North- 
ern Kentucky, October, 1804. The failure of the Bishops to 
reach the Conference devolved upon the body the election of its 
president, and McKendree performed the duties of the office. 
Several preachers were admitted on trial who subsequently at- 
tained notoriety. Among them were Samuel Parker, the sweet 
singer in Israel, and a fine specimen of "nature's noblemen" 
improved by divine grace — we shall meet with him in Mississijjpi, 
and find his grave there; Peter Cartwright, a fearless, strong, 
rough, and ready man; Miles Harper, a man of fine order of mind 
by nature — a revivalist, and of great physical capacity to sustain 
the labor of the saddle, the pulpit, and the altar; James Axley, 
of rugged strength and candor, but wdthal devoted and kind; 
and Thomas Lasley, whose missionary footsteps are yet seen, 
with Axley's, in South-western Louisiana. 

The Cumberland District fell tO' McKendree the next year, and 
he continued on it till the year 1808. He traveled from Nash- 
ville through Kentucky and Illinois to Missouri, a distance of 
fifteen hundred miles, in order to pass round and through his 
district. Among the agents and helpers by which he developed 
it two men deserve special mention. Jesse Walker was a Church 
Extension Society within himself. One who knew him and his 
vrork gives this description: 

In all my intercourse with Bishop McKendree, there was no man wliose name 
was more frequently mentioned by him than Jesse Walker. He was to the Church 
what Daniel Boone was to the early settler — always first, always ahead of every- 
body else, preceding all others long enough to be the pilot of the new-comer. 
Brother Walker is found first in Davidson county, Tennessee. lie lived witliin 
about three miles of the then village of Nashville, and was at that time a man 
of family, poor, and to a considerable extent without education. He was sent by 
the bishops and presiding elders in every direction where new work was to be cut 
out. His natural vigor was almost superhuman. He did not seem to require 
food and rest as other men; no day's journey was long enough to tire him, no fare 
too poor for him to live upon ; to him, in traveling, roads and paths were useless 
things — he blazed out his own course; no way was too bad for liim to travel — if 
his horse could not carry him he led him, and when his horse could not follow he 
would leave him and take it on foot; and if night and u cabin did not come to- 



Jesse Walker and James Gicin. 



497 



gctlier, lie would pass the night alone in the wilderness, which with him was no 
uncommon occurrence. Looking up the frontier settler was his chief delight; 
and he found his way through hill and brake as by instinct — he was never lost ; 
and, as Bishop McKendree once said of him, in addressing an Annual Conference, 
he never complained; and as the Church moved West and North, it seemed to 
bear ^Valker before it. Every time you would hear from him, he v,^as still farther 
on; and when the settlements of the white man seemed to take shape and form, 
he was next heard of among the Indian tribes of the North-west.* 

Eev. James Gwin is a prominent figure in Western Method- 
ism. He settled on the Cumberland in time to receive Barnabas 
McHenry into his cabin, and with his wife joined the Church at 
his first meeting. When a "horse load of books and pamphlets 
abusing Methodist bishops and Methodist government " were sent 
into the settlement to support Haw's alliance with O'Kelley- 
ism, he remained unmoved. A soldierly man, six feet high, with 
a strong face and brave heart, Gwin was in the expedition of 1798 
that broke up the Cherokee pirates at Nickajack and freed the 
navigation of the Tennessee from Indian perils. He was one of 
General Jackson's chaplains at the Battle of New Orleans, and 
Jackson, who had a very great esteem for him, put him in charge 
of the wounded and of the hospital. Let us see James Gwdn's 
account of these times: 

Brother McKendree, having been appointed to the charge of the Western work, 
soon formed a plan to carry the gospel to every neighborhood. He employed as 
many local preachers and exhorters as he could to visit the uncultivated regions; 
and they went forth, and the Lord went with them, and the tidings of salvation 
were soon heard in almost every settlement. As I commenced about this time to 
speak in public he sent me to visit new settlements, and I continued preaching 
from place to place until our Conference came on; then I was received into the 
traveling connection on trial. The business of Jesse Walker and myself, who 
were received at the same time, was to enlarge the work. Brother Walker went 
on forming circuits west and north until he reached the Ohio River, and Brother 
McKendree devised a plan to carry the gospel west of the Ohio to the Mississippi 
Biver. And as Louisiana had been purchased and brought into our government, 
he sent Brothers Walker and Lewis Garrett to make a trial in that region, where 
they soon succeeded in planting the standard of the cross. 

fSeptember, 1806, Bishop Asbury's journal says: "Saturday, 
20th, Western Conference began, and ended on Monday. There 
are fourteen hundred added within the bounds of this Conference 
■ — fifty-five preachers stationed, all pleased. The brethren were 
in want, so I parted with my watch, my coat, and my shirt." 



*A. L. P. Green, D.D., Biographical Sketches. 

32 



498 



History of MetJiodism. 



Having reconnoitered the frontier, and sent Jesse Walker to 
Illinois and John Travis to Missouri, McKendree follows them. 
This narrative of his tour is by James Gwin: 

In theyear 1807, Brother McKendree, A. Goddard, and myself, set out to visit 
the settlements of Illinois. We crossed the Ohio River, took the wilderness, and 
traveled until night. Kot being able to get to any habitation, we camped out. 
Brother McKendree made us some tea, and we lay down under the branches of a 
friendly beech, and had a pleasant night's rest. jS^ext morning we set out early, 
traveled hard, and got some distance into the prairie, and here we took up for 
the night. The next night we reached the first settlement, tarried a day there, 
and crossing Kaskaskia River lodged with an old Brother Scott. Here we met 
with Jesse Walker, who had formed a circuit and had three camp-meetings ap- 
pointed for us. After resting a few days, we set out for the first camp-meeting. 
In twelve miles we reached the Mississippi River, and having no means of taking 
our horses across we sent them back, crossed the river, and, with our baggage on 
our shoulders, went to the camp-ground, having fallen in with Brother Travis on 
the way. About forty were converted at this meeting. 

From this camp-meeting we returned across the river to Judge S 's, who 

refreshed us and sent forward our baggage in a cart to Brother Garrettson's, where 
our next meeting was to be held, which was called the Three Springs. We ar- 
rived on Friday morning on the camp-ground, which was situated in a beautiful 
grove surrounded by a prairie. A considerable congregation had collected, for 
the news of the other meeting had gone abroad and produced much excitement. 
Some were in favor of the work, and others were opposed to it. A certain major 
had raised a "company of lewd fellows of the baser sort" to drive us from the 
ground. On Saturday, while I was preaching, the major and his company rode 
into the congregation and halted, which produced confusion and alarm. I stopped 
preaching for a moment and invited them to be ofi:' with themselves, and they 
retired to the spring for a fresh drink of brandy. The major said he had heard 
of these Methodists before; that they always broke up tlie peace of the people 
wherever they went; that they preached against horse-racing, card-playing, and 
every other kind of amusement. At three o'clock, while Brother Goddard and I 
were singing a hymn, an awful sense of the divine power fell on the congregation, 
when a man Avith a terrified look ran to me and said, "Are you the man that 
keeps the roll?" I asked him what roll. "That roll," he replied, "that people 
put their names to who are going to heaven." I supposed lie meant the class- 
paper, and sent him to Brother Walker. Turning to Jesse Walker, he said, " Put 
my name down, if you please," and then fell to the ground. Others started to run 
off and fell; some escaped. We were busy in getting the fallen to one place, 
which we effected about sunset, when the man who wished his name on the roll 
arose and ran off like a wild beast. Looking round upon the scene reminded me 
of a battle-field after a heavy battle. All night the struggle went on. Victory 
was on the Lord's side ; many were converted, and by sunrise next morning there 
was a shout of a king in the camp. It was Sabbath morning, and I thought it 
the most beautiful morning I had ever seen. A little after sunrise, the man that 
had run off came back, wet with the dews of the night and with strong symptoms 
of derangement. At eleven o'clock Brother McKendree administered the lio^y 



McKendree's Successful Leadership. 



499 



&acrament, and while lie was dwelling upon its origin, nature, and design, some 
of the major's company were affected, and we had a melting time. After sacra- 
ment, Brother McKendree preached, all the principal men of the country, and 
all in reach who could get there, being present. His test was, Come, let us rea- 
son together;" and perhaps no man ever managed the subject better, or with more 
effect. His reasoning on the atonement, the great plan of salvation, and the love 
of God, was so clear and strong, and was delivered witli such pathos, that the 
congregation involuntarily arose to their feet and pressed toward him from all 
parts. While he was preacliing he very ingeniously adverted to the conduct of 
the major, and remarked, " We are Americans, and some of us have fought for our 
liberty, and have come here to teach men the way to heaven." This seemed to 
strike the major, and he became friendly, and has remained so ever since. 

This was a great day. The work became general — the place was awful, and 
many souls were born of God. Among the rest was our wild man. His history 
is a peculiar one. He lived in the American Bottom, had a fine estate, and was 
a professed deist. He told us that a few nights before we passed his house he 
dreamed that the day of judgment was at hand, and that three men had come 
from the East to warn the people to prepare for it; that so soon as he saw us he 
became alarmed, believing we were those men ; and having ascertained who we 
were, he came to the camp-meeting. He became a reformed and good man. 

The third camp-meeting was held, and on the last day one 
hundred joined the Church. 

McKendree has also left a concise reference to this tour, in 
which he notices the following facts: The camp-meeting they 
attended across the Mississippi Eiver, in the present State of 
Missouri, was the first meeting of the kind ever held on the 
north-west of the Mississippi Eiver, and they walked about 
forty miles in getting to it. He further says: "Four Sabbaths 
excepted, I have attended popular meetings every week since the 
beginning of February, in which time I hare ridden about two 
thousand seven hundred miles through the wilderness to the Illi- 
nois and back, spent considerable time in the most sickly part of 
that and this country, and yet, blessed be God, my health and 
strength have been preserved." This trip occupied about two 
months, and was the commencement of a glorious revival across 
the Ohio, and upon both sides of the Mississippi. 

With such men, led by the wise and hol}^ and far-seeing Mc- 
Kendree, the cause must triumph. In St. Louis and Chicago, 
Jesse Walker planted Methodism. He died in 1835, a member 
of the Illinois Conference. James Gwin, in later life, after 
preaching on Nashville Station and District, was for a long time 
pastor of the colored congregation of the city. He removed to 
Mississippi, and from that Conference received the Master's dis- 



500 



History of Methodism. 



charge. He vras strong and original. Once a junior colleague, 
observing that he read but little and at the same time had to 
preach every Sunday to a large and intelligent congregation, 
talked to him on the subject, remarking that he could not see 
how he was to sustain himself without reading. " He heard mo 
through," said the junior, "without manifesting the least dis- 
pleasure, and answered by saying: 'You little fellows cannot 
learn any thing until somebody else finds it out first and puts it 
in a book, then you can learn it; but I know it before it goes in 
a book — I know what they make books out of.' And so he did." 

It is time to glance at the progress of the cause in the South- 
west. On landing at Natchez, in the spring of the year,* Tobias 
Gibson bought a horse to replace the one he had sold on the Cum- 
berland v>dien setting out on the long canoe voyage, and explored 
the settlements as far up as Walnut Hills, near the site of Yicks- 
burg. After visiting and preaching awhile in private houses he 
organized his first church, according to previous notice. It was 
at the village of Washington, the seat of territorial government, 
six miles east of Natchez, in a school-house. Having preached 
an instructive sermon, he proposed to receive candidates for 
membership. The missionary sung the hymn of invitation with 
a melody of voice peculiar to himself, and awaited the result. 
Eandall Gibson came forward and his wife, Henrietta; then 
came Caleb Worley, a young man of Western Pennsylvania, who 
had knov^m something of Methodism in the Yougliiogheny Yal- 
ley; next, Mrs. Edna Bullen, sister of Randall Gibson; and next, 
W^illiam Foster and Eachel, his v/ife; and last came a negro 
slave and his wife — eight in all. 

Eandall Gibson was a w^ealthy and leading man, a kinsman of 
the preacher. Foster proved to be the model steward, and at his 
house the first session of the Mississippi Conference was held some 
years latel\ They both established family worship and led in 
public prayers. Eandall Gibson was the model class-leader, and 
the first local preacher licensed. His character was elevated, 
his influence great and pure, and his ministry extensively use- 
ful. All of these few souls, who there entered the ark of Christ's 

^Our best historian of South-western Methodism, Eev. John G. Jones, says 
Tobias Gibson arrived in *the spring of 1799. Among other proofs, the family 
Bible shows that the parents of the author — Jonathan Jones and Phoebe Griffing 
— were married by him in October following. — 3IS. Sistory. 



Tobias Gibson Finishes his Course. 



501 



Church, lived to old age, and honored their profession, saved 
themselves, and helped to save others. 

The work was enlarging, his health was failing, help was 
needed, and Tobias Gibson resolved what to do. If he wrote a 
letter, it might be miscarried; and if it reached the Conference 
it would be only a letter from a stranger. He would go him- 
self and plead his cause, and then conduct the new helper to his 
field. In September, 1802, he took the Natchez trace on horse- 
back alone, and made the four hundred mile trip through the 
wilderness to attend the Western Conference at Strother's.''^ He 
had not shaken the hand nor seen the face of an itinerant in four 
years. Asbury embraced him and blessed him, and sent back 
with him Moses Floyd, a young Georgian, who had been in the 
ministry three years. The return trip was not so solitary. Next 
year stronger reasons impelled Tobias Gibson to attend Confer- 
ence. He felt that his end was approaching, and with great de- 
sire he desired to see the Church provided for before he depart- 
ed. Again he was on the Natchez trace for a longer journey, 
for the Western Conference met near Cynthiana, Kentucky, and 
he appeared before his brethren in great feebleness. Asbury 
put his arms about him and strengthened him. Hezekiah Har- 
riman and Abram Amos returned with him — the former had seen 
service in Maryland and Tennessee, the latter v/as a new recruit. 
The following spring Tobias Gibson finished his course v/itli 
joy. From Walnut Hills to West Florida the sad news soon 
spread, and a profound sorrov/ was on the hearts of the people. 

^Besides the water route, following tlie eastern tributaries of the Mississippi 
River to the Father of Waters and floating down to the point of debarkation, 
there were three land routes — mere horse-paths — opened through the Indian 
country to Natchez and otlier settlements on the Lower Mississippi. These were 
maintained by the Government for mail routes, by treaty stipulations with the 
Indian tribes. The first began at Nashville, and crossed the Tennessee Eiver at 
Colbert's ferry, below the Muscle Shoals; thence through the Choctaw and Chick- 
asaw Nation to the Grindstone Ford on Bayou Pierre, ending at Natchez and 
Fort Adams. The second began at Knoxville, and passed through the Cherokee 
Nation by way of the Tellico and Tombigbee rivers to Natchez. The third was 
from the Oconee settlements, in Georgia, through the Creek Nation across the 
Alabama Eiver in the direction of St. Steven's, on westwardly to Natchez. The 
traders of the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries, Avho brought down their 
produce in flat-boats, were accustomed to return on foot or horseback by tlie first 
route — called the Nashville and Natchez trace — and hence it became best known. 
(MS. History of Rev. J. G. Jones.) 



502 



History of Methodism. 



Tobias Gibson was in the thirty-fifth year of his age. He is 
represented " as tall and spare, with fair complexion, light hair, 
and piercing black eyes, and was considered handsome. The 
expression of his countenance, the cast of his conversation, and 
his general deportment in private life, w^ere affectionate, but 
grave and solemn. As one of his converts remarked, 'He 
seldom smiled, but often wept, especially in his public exer- 
cises.' " '* His manners were such as mark true culture of soul as 
well as of society, and his preaching was instructive and pathetic. 
" There were but few who placed themselves under his pastoral 
care," says the well-informed historian of that day, "that did not 
soon profess faith in Christ. A large proportion of both sexes of 
the societies which he raised and instructed would lead in prayer 
when called on in class and prayer meeting. He was a sweet 
singer, and there was such a general improA^ement in this re- 
spect that the converts under his ministry literally had a new 
song put into their mouths. His candor was softened by cour- 
tesy, and such was his character for piety and charity that a 
personal contest with him would have been looked upon as dis- 
creditable to any man."t Tobias Gibson contracted a matri- 
monial engagement with one of his flock not long before he w^as 
completely prostrated by the insidious disease that terminated his 
earthly existence. He had received her, with most of her father's 
family, into the Church soon after he came to the country, and had 
watched with increasing interest her growth in piety and zeal 
in the service of God; but the friends of both parties, seeing he 
was in a hopeless consumption, advised them not to consummate 
the engagement, to which they reluctantly but judiciously and 
piously consented. Their last conversation on the subject w^as 
said to have been full of the tender est emotions, but beautified 
with Christian dignity and enlivened with mutual pledges to 
meet each other in heaven. This proved to be their final part- 
ing on earth. He preached his last sermon on New-year's-day, 
in 1804, w^hich was made a blessing to many, and retired to the 
house of a relative to die. The young lady, visiting a friend in 
another part of the Territory, was taken sick and died about the 
same time. "And so," says the historian, "their reunion in the 
heavenly world was much sooner than they anticipated at their 
painful parting." :|: 



* MS. History of Eev. J. G. Jones, tl^id. J Ibid. 



Besidfs of Eight Years' Ministry. 



503 



Learner Blackman was sent by William McKenclree from the 
Western Conference of 1804 to take charge of Methodism in 
Mississippi. It was the first Conference McKenclree eyer pre- 
sided over, and he never made a better appointment. Blackman 
took with him Nathan Barnes, who had concluded a good year's 
work on the Scioto Circuit. What had been a circuit he devel- 
oped in 1806, by wise planning and incessant preaching and trav- 
eling, into a district with three circuits, having their base on the 
river, and reaching out, as far as the settlements extended, toward 
Alabama and Florida — the Natchez Circuit, with Wilkinson on 
the south and Claibourne on the north, to which the Opelousas 
Circuit, in South-western Louisiana, was added. The Mississip- 
pi District was continued under the presidency of Blackman, in 
1807, with the addition of Ouachita (Washita) Circuit, in the 
northern part of Louisiana. This captain of the Lord's host 
now held positions on both sides of the river; and by crossing 
and recrossing the wilderness to the sessions of the AVestern 
Conference, and representing the case to Bishop Asbury, he had 
brought to his help such men as Lasley, Bowman, and Axley, of 
whose work we shall have more to say. 

A session of the Western Conference in September, 1807, at 
Chillicothe, fifty miles north of the Ohio Kiver, means progress. 
Asbury reached it from New England by traveling through 
Schenectady, Geneva, and Tioga — on through Western Pennsyl- 
vania — attending camp-meetings and holding ordinations along 
the way : then entered Kentucky, not by the old route of the Crab 
Orchard and Cumberland Gap. The scene has changed. He 
says: "There were thirteen preachers added, and we found an 
addition of two thousand two hundred members to the Society 
in these bounds; seven deacons were elected and ordained, and 
ten elders; tv/o preachers only located; sixty-six were stationed." 

Learner Blackman was present, reporting the Mississippi Dis- 
trict with five circuits — three on the east and two on the west 
side of the river, with three hundred and thirty-five white and 
eighty colored members. He then concluded a horseback jour- 
ney of sixteen hundred miles to see his parents in New Jersey, 
and took final leave of them with manly tears. He and they 
desired a field nearer home, but the Church required his serv- 
ices elsewhere, and to the West he returned and there ended his 
Doble life. Crossing the Ohio, in 1815, he was drowned. 



504 



History of Methodism. 



Eleven delegates were clioseia to represent Western Metliod- 
ism in the General Conference of 1808, to meet at Baltimore. 
Of course William McKendree led the delegation. He returned 
to the East after eight years of memorable work. He had found 
the Western Conference with one district and left it with five; 
with two thousand three hundred and seven white members, and 
one hundred and seventy-seven colored, and left it with fifteen 
thousand two hundred and tAvo vvhite members, and seven hun- 
dred and ninety-five colored. Let us consider this Christian 
chieftain, as represented by those who knew him vrell. He led 
a band of tried men. It vvas not his plan to say "Go," but 
"Come;" and a more heroic band never lived than those who 
followed the standard borne in triumph by William McKendree. 
He was mighty in the Scriptures, and had the anointing of the 
Spirit. He had obeyed well, and he governed Avell. As a man 
of order, he was faultless: every thing was in its place, and all 
things were done at the proper time. There vv^as no coldness, 
coarseness, or selfishness about him. Without effort, he found 
his Avay to the confidence and esteem of every one, old and young, 
black and white, rich and poor. He was five feet ten inches in 
height, Vv^eighing about one hundred and sixty pounds. He had 
fair skin, dark hair, and blue eyes that kindled when he spoke. 
AVhenin his prime, his form w^as a model, possessing extraordinary 
action and great physical strength. His features, taken as a 
whole, were decidedly good; his bearing was modest, yet most 
imx^ressive. " When he appeared on a camp-ground," says an old 
comrade, "he naturally took command: all yielded him defer- 
ence." " His perceptive organs were perfect. He saw every 
thing that came in sight — nothing passed him unnoticed. His 
mind had no dark surfaces or blunt edges. His intellect was 
bright, and his thoughts diamond-pointed. He never said foolish 
things — never w^eak, never even common things." All his time 
and all his powers were consecrated to God. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



General Conferences of 1804 and 1808 — Demand for a Delegated Body — Camp- 
meetings in the East — Prosperity — Bishop Whatcoat's Death — McKendree 
Elected — Joshua Soule Brings in a Plan for a Delegated General Conference: 
Its Defeat; Its Adoption — Death of Bishop Coke; His Burial at Sea. 

A FEELING of insecurity with regard to Church order, 
\ united with a grovving inconvenience and inequality in 
the attendance upon General Conference, suggested a change 
in the composition and powers of that body. Though since 1800 
limited to the elders, whenever it met it had absolute authority, 
and by the vote of a bare majority could at any time change 
the doctrines or the economy of tlie Church. 

It was impossible for the distant Conferences to be present in 
full force, and already they had begun to appoint delegates to 
represent them. The General Conference meeting in Baltimore, 
the controlling power Avas necessarily placed in the hands of the 
elders in the central parts. There is no list of preachers in 
attendance until 1804, when it appears that of one hundred and 
eight present, thirty-seven are from Philadelphia Conference, 
and thirty from Baltimore; giving these two Conferences almost 
two-thirds of the body."^ 

In 1800 a proposition that there should be a delegated Gen- 
eral Conference was promptly negatived. It was negatived in 
1804, with the understanding that the subject might be consid- 
ered by the Annual Conferences and brought, with matured 
suggestions, before the next General Conference. Too much 
legislation, hasty and radical measures, and unequal representa- 
tion, might thus be avoided, and the polity and doctrinal integ- 
rity of the Church be secured, under constitutional provisions. 

The General Conference of 1804 met at a time of religious 
prosperity. The year before had added over seventeen thousand 
members — a larger number than any previous year had wit- 
nessed. Camp-meetings and revivals of great power prevailed, 

* Number of elders present from the several Annual Conferences, in the Gen- 
eral Conference of 1804: From the Western Conference, 3; South Carolina Confer- 
ence, 5; Virginia Conference, 17; Baltimore Conference, 30; Philadelphia Con- 
ference, 37; New York Conference, 12; New England Conference, 4. Total 108. 
Bishops, 3. Total of elders and bishops, 111. 

(505) 



506 



History of Methodism. 



and the liistorian of the time says "our ministers and people 
throughout the Connection were uncommonly devoted to God, 
and much engaged to promote his cause." The Journal shows 
that the Discipline was examined, paragraph by paragraph, from 
beginning to end. Amendments were suggested, and a vote was 
taken on each section. A rule was adopted that the bishops 
should allow the Annual Conferences to sit a week at least, and 
that they should not permit any preacher to remain in the same 
station or circuit more than two years successively. 

The year before he was made presiding elder McKendree was 
on four circuits, serving each one quarter. Annual change was 
the rule, but some preachers had been appointed to the same 
place for three years, and the disposition for extended accomoda- 
tion was growing. This rule was a relief to the bishops; for if 
preachers are to be moved the law must keep them movable. Ai 
this Conference it was ordered to print the Discipline in two 
parts — the first to be called the spiritual, and the second the tem- 
poral part, and " that the first part of the Discipline should be 
published alone, for the benefit of the black people in the South 
who are members of our Society and taught to read." 

The hard rule until this time was that if any member married 
with an una wakened person, he or she should be expelled from 
the Church; but it was now modified: instead of being expelled 
the offender was "put back on trial." An incident, the like of 
which occurred in apostolic times if we may judge from Paul's 
Epistle to the Corinthians, doubtless helped to bring about this 
modification. A godly woman having entered into matrimonial 
alliance contrary to the canon was on trial for the same. She 
could not repent of the act, and the sanctifying effect of her 
example and influence upon the miserable sinner that her hus- 
band had been was known and read of all the community. 
While the Society was in a dilemma about executing the law 
the husband stood without, and sent in a message that if he 
might be allowed to do so he would join the Church with his 
wife. And so the matter ended. 

The q^iiadrenniiim from 1803 to 1807 was remarkable for re- 
vivals in the East, as the former four years had been in the West. 
Asbury's journal has this reckoning and this longing: "Our 
total for the year 1803 is 104,070 members. In 1771 there were 
about 300 Methodists in New York, 250 in Philadelphia, and a 



Extension of the Bevival Spirit. 



507 



few in New Jersey. I then longed for 100,000; nov/ I want 
200,000 — nay, thousands upon thousands." Some extracts from 
Lee's History will show the spirit of those times: 

The Loifl was pleased to favor the people in Georgia in 1803 with an uncom- 
mon prosperous time in religion, and many souls were brought to God at public 
and at private meetings. At the quarterly-meetings on Broad Eiver and in Appa- 
lachie circuits there were about thirty or forty converted at each place. The 
quarterly-meeting at Harris's Cliapel, in Washington county, Vv'as reraarkal:)ly fa- 
vored with the presence of the Lord. Conversions were clear and powerful, and 
not many short of one hundred professed converting grace at that time. 

There Avas a general camp-meeting in Warren county. The ground was opened 
in an oblong form, having the meeting-house in the middle. On the second day 
souls were converted to God, and the work spread througli the assembly. It was 
thought that as many as one hundred souls were converted. Indeed, Georgia has 
been a great place for religion from that day to this, and old professors have gen- 
erally been very lively in religion. 

In South Carolina religion gained ground, and in many places it might be said 
to be all in a flame. 

In North Carolina the work of the Lord spread greatly, and was known both 
among saints and sinners. A short account of the camp-meetings in the lower 
part of that State says: "At the first camp-meeting I suppose there were twenty- 
seven converted; several at the second and third, about ten at the fourth, and 
about sixty-seven at the last." 

There was a gracious reformation and many converted in the city of Middle- 
town, Connecticut, in the course of the summer and fall of the year. A number 
of the inhabitants went from the city by water down the river to what they called 
a kind of field-meeting, where the work began, and several were awakened, and 
converted as they returned home. From that time the work revived. 

In the latter part of the summer (1804) there was a camp-meeting held low 
down in Virginia, near the town of Suffolk, where the power and presence of God 
were wonderfully displayed. The meeting began on Friday, and continued witli 
but little intermission until Monday night, in which time it was thought that 
three or four hundred persons were converted to God. The accounts from that 
meeting appear to be incredible to those wlio were not present, but those who 
were eye and ear witnesses think it to be too great to be sufiiciently described. 

During this year Stitli Mead labored among the people of Bedfonl, Amherst, 
and Campbell counties, and a few other places, where the Lord greatly owned his 
labors in the gospel. He gives an account of upward of eleven hundred wlio 
were converted at the meetings where he was, in the course of six montlis. It 
appeared as if the kingdoms of this Avorld would soon become the kingdom of 
tlie Lord and of his Christ. These camp-meetings were the first that had ever 
been held in that part of Virginia. Lynchburg greatly shared in this revival. 

The years 1805 and 1806 were prosperous, and the work of 
God w^as carried on in many places in an uncommon manner, 
both in the conversion and sanctification of souls. " Most of the 
United States," says Lee, "were favored with the awakening 



508 



Hisfonj of Mctliodism. 



and converting grace of God. The people were ofttimes awak- 
ened and brought to the knowledge of God in the course of the 
same day. Some who came to meeting in the forenoon quite 
careless and wicked have gone away before night hap^Dy in God. 
I have seen some fall beneath the power of God as if they were 
struck dead, and then lie helpless and speechless for a short 
space, while their friends have prayed for them, and at last they 
sprung up of a sudden, and with a loud voice gave praise to God 
in that he had forgiven their sins."* Methodism was at its true 
calling — acting upon the masses, reaching the multitude with the 
gospeL It became common to begin quarterly-meetings on Fri- 
day, and continue them until Sunday night or Monday forenoon, 
and for hundreds of x^eople to attend them in wagons, and carts, 
and with tents, and to lodge in the woods by the meeting-houses 
wdiile the meeting lasted. Many old Christians were renewed in 
love, and backsliders were reclaimed. It was customary to hear 
of ten or twenty souls being converted where the people met to 
hear a sermon or to hold a prayer-meeting, and of fifty or a hun- 
dred souls being converted at a quarterly or a camp meeting. 
While sinners were coming home to God, Christians were ad- 
vancing in the divine life, and many young preachers were raised 
up to the help of the Lord against the mighty.f 

On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, according to credible re- 
port, more than one thousand persons were converted at a camp- 
meeting which lasted five days and nights. 

The peninsula produced some of the strongest men of Meth- 
odism: Shadrack Bostwick, Caleb Boyer, William Beauchamp^ 
Ezekiel Cooper, Hope Hull, William Phoebus, Stephen Martin - 
dale, Lawrence McCombs, Lawrence Lawrenson, John Emory, 
John Broadhead, George Pickering, and many others. 

The necrology of these times is rich in the trophies of faith. 
Wilson Lee died in October, 1804. He had labored in the most 
refined Eastern stations and in the roughest AYestern missions, 
for twenty years. A few months before he died he said to a 
friend: " I have given up the world, I have given up the Church, 
I have given up all." 

William Ormond died of yellow^ fever, declaring with his latest 
breath, "Peace, peace, victory, victory; complete victory ! " To 



* Lee's History of Methodism, fl^i^^- 



''Our People Die Well:' 



509 



a friend he wrote, June 30, 1803: "I expect to continue upon my 
station, for it appears I cannot well leave it at this time. I may 
as well die with the fever as v/ith any other affliction, and there 
is as direct a passage from Norfolk to heaven as from any other 
part of the globe. I have no widow to weep over my lifeless 
body, no babes to mourn for a father; and I find this v^^orld is a 
dangerous and troublesome place." He left a legacy to the Con- 
ference, and another to build a house for God in the neighbor- 
hood of his nativity. 

About the same time, in the North, fell David Brown, a native 
of Ireland. The Minutes say: "He had a peculiar excellency in 
reproof. The edge of it vv^as so keen and so tempered as to give 
at the time rather pleasure than pain, yet so directed as to pro- 
duce w^ith unerring certainty its effect; and generally after his 
departure his supposed pleasantry was first perceived to have 
had a serious meaning; but he lost no love by his reproofs. Dis- 
cord fied before him, for the God of peace was v/ith him, and a 
united harmony brooded over the face of the circuit." 

Nicholas Watters died in Charleston of yellow fever, where 
James King had died of the same disease seven years before. 
He v/as one of seven brothers who were among the first to em- 
brace Methodism in Maryland; the youngest of v/hom was the 
first American Methodist itinerant. Henry Willis — one of th© 
best of the original thirteen elders, finished his coarse; and 
George Dougherty, a gifted and faithful preacher. Like "Willis, 
he often sunk and rose again in bodily strength, and took ad- 
vantage of every respite to renew pulpit and pastoral labor. 
The Minutes say: "Our immortal Dougherty was declining for 
two years, but his fortitude caused him to travel to the last of 
life. He survived and re-survived. His last public act was to 
attend the Annual Conference in Sparta, Georgia, January, 1807. 
Here he brought forward a resolution, 'that if any preacher 
should desert his station through fear in time of sickness or 
danger, the Conference should never employ that man again.' 
He, with amazing argument and energy, carried his cause, like a 
dying general in victory. He spoke of eternity with sweet com- 
posure, and manifested an indescribable assemblage of confi- 
dence, love, and hope, while he said, ' The goodness and love of 
God to me are great and marvelous as I go down the dreadful 
declivity of death.' " 



510 



Histonj of Methodism. 



Bennett Kendrick was put on the Camden District to supply 
Dougherty's place, and died thirteen days after him. " His ex- 
cellences as a preacher were known best to citizens, friends, and 
brethren in Portsmouth, Wilmington, Charleston, and Colum- 
bia; and the poor Africans repeat his name and his death with 
tears. He was a willing servant to slaves for the sake of Christ." 

The reproach that the Protestant clergy desert their flocks in 
epidemics, and leave the Pomish priesthood to stand by the peo- 
ple in times of danger, has often been disproved by Methodist 
preachers in the cities of the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. 

Bishop Whatcoat died at the house of Governor Bassett, Del- 
aware, in 1806. The brief record is: "Born in 1736; converted 
Sept. 3, 1758; sanctified March 28, 1761; began to preach in 1769; 
came to America in 1781; consecrated bishop in 1800; died at 
Dover, Delaware, July 5, 1806." He was one of the two elders 
who came with Bishop Coke to organize Episcopal Methodism, 
and used his office well. One day in Kent county he "preached 
in the morning and baptized thirty-six children, and in the after- 
noon, and baptized fifty more." We have seen him on his first 
episcopal tour. On returning to the place of setting out he 
wrote: "Our circuit through the continent since we left Balti- 
more, 21st of May, 1800, is about 4,184 miles. We had the pleas- 
ure of seeing and hearing that pure and undefiled religion is 
spreading in a general way; in some places it is extraordinary." 
The next year he explored and preached from Boston to Savan- 
nah. One expression betrays his itinerant habit and his con- 
scientious accuracy. The distance between places is measured 
by "the way I came." He winds up his second continental 
tour: " From Camden to Petersburg, the way I traveled, is about 
585 miles. I visited several societies, preached to the people, 
and came to Baltimore the 27th of March, 322 miles from Pe- 
tersburg, the way I came. In my course through the continent 
since I left Baltimore the 11th of last April, it is about 3,707 
miles, in the 66th year of my age." Next he touched the extreme 
eastern and western points of American Methodism, preaching 
edifying sermons, ordaining deacons and elders in every Confer- 
ence, and concluded another tour of so many thousand miles, 
"the way I came." His fifth and last grand round is thus re- 
corded: "Notwithstanding my infirm state of body, through the 
blessing of God I have been able to travel 3,416 miles the last 



A Delegated General Conference. 



511 



twelve months, stopping one-fourth of the time at different places 
by the way." The Minutes say: "Who ever savf him trifling or 
light? Who ever heard him speak evil of any person? Nay, 
who ever heard him speak an idle vv^ord? Dead to envy, pride, 
and praise. Sober, Avithout sadness; cheerful, without levity; 
careful, without covet-ousness; and decent, without pride." 

At the place of his tomb — Wesley Chapel, Dover — his surviv- 
ing colleague bore a loving and strong testimony to the worth of 
one whom he "had known from his own age of fourteen years." 
All mourned for him v/hose chief and priceless contribution to 
the Church had been faithful service and holy example, gentle- 
ness and peace, sweetness and light. ''^ 

The General Conference of 1808 met in Baltimore, mth one 
hundred and twenty-nine members as reported in the Minutes. 
Of these, Philadelphia had thirty-two and Baltimore thirty-one — 
nearly a majority of the body. This, like every General Confer- 
ence before it, was a body with conventional powers. The whole 
Discipline was open to revision by a majority vote. It had be- 
come evident that there must be a delegated General Conference, 
v\^orking under a constitution. A committee of fourteen — two 
from each of the seven Annual Conferences — was appointed to 
draw up a plan. This committee met, and detailed three of their 
number as a sub-committee, viz.: Ezekiel Cooper, of the New 
York; Philip Bruce, of the Virginia; and Joshua Soule, of the 
New England Conference. This sub-committee agreed that each 
should make out a draught, and separated. When they met 
Cooper and Soule had theirs, but Bruce had not put 'pen to pa- 
per. The words, as they nov/ stand in the Discipline, were in 
Joshua Soule' s paper — providing for a general itinerant superin- 
tendency. Cooper's ran thus: "The General Conference shall 
not do away with episcopacy, nor reduce our ministry to a pres- 
byterial parity." The issue was made there. Finally, Bruce 
voted vdth Soule, and his plan was submitted to the committee 

^>Tot to lose sight of Thomas Vasey: Having once put on gown and bands, he 
could not put them off. He consented to receive reordination at the hands of 
Bishop White; returned to England; obtained a curacy in the Estahlish:nent ; 
went back to his first love, and got employment from Wesley at City Koad and 
in the Leed's band-meetings ; and died at a good old age. It v>'Ould be interesting 
to know wliat spiritual b^enefits or grace flowed to him along a material line of tactual 
succession, supposing such an unbroken conductor, by laying on of hands, to exist. 



512 



History of Methodism. 



of fourteen, and adopted without cliange, and by it submitted to 
the Conference. The constitution — for so ^ye may call it — was 
debated, and laid on the table for three days. Ezekiel Cooper 
labored hard to have seven bishops — one for each Annual Con- 
ference. He was a master of debate, and the motion was his, 
seconded by Joshua Wells of the Baltimore Conference, "to 
postpone the present question to make room for the considera- 
tion of a new resolution as preparatory to the minds of the 
brethren to determine on the present subject." 

Cooper and others favored an elective presiding eldership, and 
this opportunity was considered a very favorable one for pushing 
a measure that had been often defeated mainly by those wdio now 
sought a delegated General Conference. 

The motion to postpone prevailed, and they immediately in- 
troduced a resolution that " each Annual Conference respectively, 
without debate, shall annually choose by ballot its own presid- 
ing elders." This question was debated for three days, and was 
lost by a vote of fifty-two yeas, and seventy-three nays. The 
report recommending a delegated body was then voted upon and 
lost, fifty- seven being for, and sixty-four against. 

As the New York, New England, South Carolina, and West- 
ern Conferences had petitioned for this plan, and as it was lost 
by the votes principally of Philadelphia and Baltimore, much 
feeling v/as excited. The New England delegates asked leave 
of absence, stating that they were not disposed to make any fac- 
tion, but they considered their presence useless. The Western 
delegates w^ere in no pleasant mood. " Burke's brov>^ gathered a 
solemn frown; Sale and others looked sad; as for poor Lakin, he 
wept like a child." ^" Jesse Lee, who from the beginning favored 
a delegated body, endangered the whole scheme by persistent ob- 
jection to an unimportant point. He disliked the election of del- 
egates ; wished them indicated by seniority, to prevent electioneer- 
ing. The author of the plan met this by proposing to amend the 
part providing for the appointment of delegates by leaving it to 
the Annual Conferences to appoint by seniority or by ballot. The 
brethren of the minority consented to remain in the city until 
some private interviews could be held. A number of the Phil- 
adelpliia and Baltimore members agreed to reconsider and 
to vote with them; and subsequently the report w^as taken 



* Henry Smith's Becollections of an Itinerant. 



McKendree EUdPcl and Consecrated Bishop. 513 



up and acted on, item by item, and then as a whole the j)lan for a 
delegated General Conference was adopted with great nnanimity.'^" 

It was necessary to " strengthen the episcopacy " by the elec- 
tion of one or more superintendents; and after a motion to elect 
seven bishops, and another to elect two, had failed by a strong 
vote, it was resolved almost unanimously to elect and consecrate 
one. The Conference proceeded to vote by ballot, one hundred 
and twenty-eight members present and voting. William Mc- 
Kendree received ninety-five votes, and was declared elected; 
and on the 18th of May he was consecrated, in Light Street 
Church, by Bishop Asbury, assisted by four elders. 

When the Western presiding elder entered the General Con- 
ference, he had been so long and so far from the central part of 
the Church his old friends were not prepared to appreciate the 
improvement he had made, while to the younger members of the 
body he was almost unknown, even by name. Having been ap- 
pointed to preach at Light Street Church on the Sabbath be- 
fore Conference, McKendree complied, and the unction of the 
Holy One was upon the preacher and the word. The people 
magnified the grace of God in him, saying in their hearts, " This 
is the man whom God delights to honor." Bishop Asbury, who 
was present, was heard to say that the sermon would make him 

* The following is a copy of an important part of the plan : 
The General Conference shall have full powers to make rules and regulations 
for our Church, under the following limitations and restrictions: 

1. The General Conference shall not revoke, alter, or change our Articles of 
Religion, nor establish any new standards or rules of doctrine contrary to our 
present existing and established standards of doctrine. 

2. They shall not allow of more than one representative for every five members 
of the Annual Conference, nor allow of a less number than one for every seven. 

3. They shall not change or alter any part or rule of our government so as to 
do away episcopacy or destroy the plan of our itinerant general superintendency. 

4. They shall not revoke or change the General Rules of the United Societies. 

5. TJiey shall not do away the privileges of our ministers or preachers of trial 
oy a committee, and of an appeal ; neither shall they do away the privileges of 
our members of trial before the Society, or by a committee, and of an appeal. 

6. They shall not appropriate the produce of the Book Concern, or of the Char- 
ter Fund, to any purpose other than for the benefit of the traveling, supernumer- 
ary, superannuated, and worn-out preachers, their wives, widows, and children. 
Provided, nevertheless, that upon the joint recommendation of all the Annual 
Conferences then a majority of two-thirds of the General Conference succeeding 
shall suflUce to alter any of the above restrictions. 

33 



514 



Histonj of Methodism. 



a bishop. He was tlie first native American elected to tliat office 
in the Methodist Church, and was fifty-one years of age. 

The Conference of 1808 dates an era in Episcopal Methodism. 
Asbnry rejoiced over the provision for stability in the Church 
and "the electing dear Brother McKendree," with this good 
reason: "Since the burden is now borne by two pairs of shoul- 
ders instead of one — the care is cast upon tw^o hearts and heads." 

Bishop Coke was present at the General Conference of 1804, 
and soon after took final leave. He was bringing out his Com- 
mentary on the Bible, and carrying on missions in the "West 
Indies, Wales, Ireland, and Africa. Herein lies his greatness: 
he v>^as in advance of the Church on its greatest duty — to spread 
the gospel in the regions beyond. He devoted himself to beg- 
ging funds, as well as administering them, in this behalf, and was 
the largest giver to the cause; and so carefully, as well as hon- 
estly, was this abundance administered by him that there was 
never occasion for blame. The following is an instance of 
his perseverance and success. Calling on the captain of a 
man-of-war one day, he pleaded the cause of the negroes so 
powerfully that he obtained a much larger sum than he had ex- 
pected; this he gratefully received and retired. The captain, 
who knew nothing of Dr. Coke, happened to call on a gentleman 
to whom the Doctor had made several successful applications in 
behalf of the missions. After some conversation, "Pray, sir," 
said the captain, " do you know any thing of a little fellow who 
calls himself Dr. Coke, who is going about begging money for 
missionaries to be sent among the slaves?" "I know him well," 
was the reply. "He seems," rejoined the captain, "to be a 
heavenly-minded little devil; he coaxed me out of two guineas 
this morning." 

Beturning from his ninth and last voyage to America, he re- 
newed the business of planning missions and soliciting aid for 
their support. With this object in view he visited Bristol and 
called on a lady who was at once rich, generous, and pious. With 
a countenance beaming with generosity she subscribed one hun- 
dred guineas. As it was not convenient for her to pay the amount 
at that time, she requested him to call on her at her residence in 
Wiltshire. On seeing the amount of her subscription, the Doc- 
tor found it difficult to express his gratitude. When he called 
on her at Bradford, instead of repining at her former liberality, 



B'lsliop Col'e's Mciii'icKje — His Church Union Projects. 515 



she doubled the amount and gave him two hundred gnhieas. 
From these interviews an acquaintance began which led to their 
marriage in April, 1805. 

This lady was the only surviving child of a gentleman who 
had bequeathed to her an ample fortune; and being interested 
in the prosperity of missions, she was desirous of promoting the 
cause of God by supporting them. Having married this estima- 
ble and wealthy lady — Miss Penelope Goulding Smith — Dr. 
Coke addressed a circular to his American brethren in June, 
1805, announcing his marriage, and proposing to reside perma- 
nently with them " on the express condition that the seven Con- 
ferences should be divided betwixt us [Bishop Asbury and him- 
self], three and four, and four and three, each of us changing 
our division annually; and that this plan, at all events, should 
continue permanent and unalterable during both our lives." 

The Conferences — some sharply, others mildly but firmly — 
declined a proposition which ignored the position and claims of 
Bishop Wliatcoat, who was greatly and justly loved, and who 
was then actively engaged in the duties of his office; and which 
involved other consequences not d-esirable. 

A more serious affair had to be cleared up by Bishop Coke, 
which brought a long explanatory letter to the Conference of 
1808. He and Bishop White had been indulging in a little pri- 
vate negotiation for a union of the Methodist Episcopal and the 
Protestant Episcopal Churches, as far back as 1791. Of course 
the project fel] through; but a letter of Coke's, written in honor 
and confidence to White on the matter, after lying still for years, 
had been published. While this document caused "much un- 
circumcised rejoicing " in one camp, it raised indignation in the 
other. He declares to the General Conference, after giving the 
history of the affair: "I thought (perhaps erroneously, and I be- 
lieve so noir) that our field of action would have been exceed- 
ingly enlarged by that junction, and that myriads would have 
attended our ministry in consequence of it who were at that time 
prejudiced against us. All these things unitedly considered led 
me to write the letter, and meet Bishop White and Dr. Magaw 
in Philadelphia." He avers: "I never did apply to the general 
convention, or any other convention, for reconsecration. I never 
intended that either Bishop Asbury or myself should give up 
our episcopal ofiice if the junction were to take place;" and that 



516 



History of Methodism. 



"I have no doubt but my consecration of Bishop Asbury was 
perfectly valid." He held that the orders of all ordained Meth- 
odist preachers were perfectly valid, and that nothing he had writ- 
ten or done in the Avhole business was contrary to this position 
or compromised the honor and integrity of Methodism. It was 
to be a iinio}}, where both parties made concessions and got ad- 
vantages, but neither was absorbed. 

Coke had been alarmed at the O'Kelley schism, which was then 
rising; he had been listening to the chief and his friends, and took 
in their exaggerations of evil. Moreover, there was as yet no 
General Conference established as a center of pov^er and bond 
of union for Episcopal Methodism. In this state of things he 
verily thought each Church could bring to the other some ele- 
ment of strength in their day of weakness. 

The General Conference accepted his apology, and yielded 
gracefully to a request from the English brethren that he should 
remain with them, where he was greatly useful. The worst, the 
inexcusable part of this pragmatism is that Asbury was at his 
side when Coke wrote the letter, and was not taken into his con- 
fidence. His excuse was that he knew his colleague would not 
then entertain the thought, and he wished to get things in train 
by the coming General Conference of 1792. 

Dr. Coke was very enterprising. In 1799 he had the Bishop 
of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury considering another 
scheme of union proposed by himself, to arrest the tendency to 
"universal separation from the Establishment," which was evi- 
dent among the Wesleyans of Great Britain. In a long letter 
he informs his lordship : 

A very considerable part of our Society have imbibed a deejD prejudice against 
receiving the Lord's Supper from the hands of immoral clergymen. The word 
immoral they consider in a very extensive sense, as including all those "who fre- 
quent card-tables, balls, horse-racing, theaters, and other places of fashionable 
amusement. I have found it in vain to urge to them that the validity of the or- 
dinance does not depend upon the piety, or even the morality, of the minister; all 
my arguments have had no effect. ... I am inclined to think A at if a given 
number of our leading preachers, proposed by our General Conference, were to be 
ordained, and permitted to travel through our Connection, to administer the sac- 
raments to those Societies who have been thus prejudiced as above, every difficulty 
would be removed. 

After some weeks of incubation upon this stone egg the arch- 
bishop, with due apology for delay, says: "I now proceed to in- 



Tlie Man that He Was. 



517 



form you of my sentiments, and those of the bishops with whom 
I have commnnicatecl on the subject of your letter, after the full- 
est and most deliberate consideration of its contents." And the 
substance is: "That persons of tender consciences, who have 
scruples in respect to any points of religious doctrine or disci- 
pline, should be allowed all reasonable indulgence, v/e hold to be 
just and proper; but that a scruple avowed to be founded in a 
presumption that all the regularly ordained clergy of the Church 
of England are immoral, should be given w^ay to " — well, they did 
not see their way clear! All this, let it be remembered, in En- 
gland and in America, was on the Doctor's own motion and re- 
sponsibility; nobody had any hand in it but himself/" 

Thomas Coke's foibles must not be allowed to offset, or even 
to obscure, his excellences. Without chagrin he accepted the re- 
jection of exceptional proposals to serve the American churches, 
and was ready with other offers. He took reproof kindly. Often 
blundering impetuously, he did not stint at apology. His " con- 
science could not be pacified" without writing "a penitential 
letter " to Jarratt for the way he had spoken of him in his jour- 
nal as a slave-holder. If one ill-devised plan fell through, his 
restless activity for doing good tried another. He never soured, 
never despaired; and his love for his brethren never failed. The 
English Methodists, on his return to them, treated him coldly 
because they thought him too American; and his American 
brethren suspected him as too English; but he resented neither, 
and only sought to serve both in the Lord. On foreign mission 
stations, in the presence of the heathen where so vast a work is 
to be done for Christ, denominational differences are felt the 
least; the lines that divide the little band of Christian workers 
almost fade away. This missionary spirit and aspect had mas- 
tered Thomas Coke, and he desired to see a union of forces 
against the massed powers of sin and Satan, at any reasonable 
sacrifice and concession. If his advances were repelled, or his 
confidence was betrayed, he did not cease to trust his fellow-men, 
and could say: "In the integrity of my heart and innocency of 
my hands have I done this." More impulsive than calculating, 
he was too earnest for his cause to be conservative of his repu- 
tation. He bore the expenses as well as the perils of endless voy- 
ages and journeys in the service of the Church, and gave an im- 



* Life of Coke, by Drew, pages 290-295. 



518 



Histonj of Methodism. 



pulse to domestic and foreign missions which is felt to this day. 
It has been truly stated that for many years he " stooped to the 
very drudgery of charity, and gratuitously pleaded the cause of 
a perishing world from door to door." 

Beginning with Nova Scotia, and raising his first collection of 
$150 in the Baltimore Conference of 1784 for the support of its 
missionaries, he reached even to Gibraltar. Nor did he end 
there. In 1811, under his appeals. Warren, Haley, Keyner, and 
Hurst volunteered to undertake a mission to the continent of 
Africa, and arrived safely after a passage of more than thirteen 
months. To carry this design into immediate operation Coke 
advanced £600 (about $2,666) from his own personal property. 

In 1813, having gathered all the information necessary for un- 
dertaking a mission to India, and fixed upon Ceylon as the best 
point for beginning. Coke appeared before the British Confer- 
ence, in his sixty-sixth year, and asked their approval. He 
stated at large the providential concurrence of circumstances 
wdiicli at the time rendered a mission to the East feasible. At 
the same time he introduced to the Conference seven preachers 
who had volunteered to accompany him to the regions beyond. 
Some thought the time had not yet come for so bold and cost- 
ly an enterprise; but he pleaded for it, and declared it would 
break his heart if he were denied. To silence effectually wdiat- 
ever opposition might be made from pecuniary considerations, 
he offered to bear the whole expense of the outfit from his own 
private property, to the amount of £6,000 (about $26,660), if that 
sum should be found necessary. 

Having completed the necessary preparations, on the 10th of 
December they left London for Portsmouth, to embark. Their 
ship doubled the Cape of Good Hope late in April. The mis- 
sionaries w^ere diligent in studies, preparatory to their future 
work, and frequent and fervent in devotions. On retiring to rest 
May 2, their leader "took his fellow-missionaries by the hand, 
and in his usual manner commended them to God." Next morn- 
ing he was found " stretched upon his cabin-fioor, lifeless and 
cold." It is supposed that he died of apoplexy. The wish, ex- 
pressed in his will, that his body might be buried by the side 
of beloved dust at Brecon, could not be carried out. The in- 
tense heat made it necessary that the funeral should take place 
on the evening of the same day. 



Bishop Coke's Burial at Sea. 



519 



The ship's carpenter made a large, thick deal coffin, with holes 
in the bottom, that the air might not prevent its sinking. In 
this coffin the body was decently laid, and four cannon-balls, in- 
closed in canvas bags, were introduced — two at the head and 
two at the feet of the corpse. At five o'clock the coffin was car- 
ried on deck and laid on the leeward gangway. The awning was 
spread, and the tolling of the ship's bell called the passengers 
and crew together. One of the missionaries read the funeral- 
service, and then, in solemn silence, the body of the first Meth- 
odist bishop was consigned to its grave in the middle of the 
Indian Ocean, to be seen no more till "the sea shall give up 
the dead which are in it." 

The rest of the company reached the place of their destination 
in safety, and commenced their labors under favorable circum- 
stances; and the success which has since attended this mission 
proves that it was undertaken and prosecuted under the Divine 
sanction. It was the beginning of the vast foreign missionary 
work that has made Wesleyan Methodism famous in all lands. 

At the time of Coke's death Asbury, wheezing and groaning 
with asthma, with his feet in poultices, and "sitting in my little 
covered wagon, into which they lifted me," was clambering over 
the mountains of Western Pennsylvania, visiting, preaching, and 
holding Conferences. When the news of the sad event reached 
him he wrote in his journal : " Thomas Coke, of the third brancli 
of Oxonian Methodists : as a minister of Christ, in zeal, in labors, 
and in services, the greatest man of the last century." 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



Extending tlie Field in Illinois and Missouri — Winans — l^egro Missions — Olin — 
McKendree's New Method of Presiding — Asbury Takes Final Leave of the 
Conferences: State of the Western Field on his Departure — Asbury's Death. 



IHE members of the General Conference of 1808 closed their 



I memorable session with remarkable nnanimity and affec- 
tion, and returned to their respective fields with fresh zeal and 
hope, feeling that they had done their duty to God and the 
Church; and the whole Connection seemed to enjoy renewed vig- 
or. The two Bishops separated. Asbury, with Henry Boehm as 
his traveling companion, started through Maryland, Pennsylva- 
nia, Ohio, and Kentucky, to the first Conference for the year, to 
be held in Tennessee; while McKendree went through Western 
Virginia and Illinois, and crossing the Mississippi Eiver above 
its junction with the Missouri, joined his old friend Jesse Walk- 
er in holding a camp-meeting, in July; and pushing still farther 
west, crossing the Missouri Eiver one hundred miles above its 
mouth, they held another camp-meeting at Big Spring, in Au- 
gust. This was the frontier "where," he says in his diary, "un- 
til lately the Methodists were unknown — it being under the 
Spanish and papal governments until transferred to us by the 
French. Last year we formed a circuit here." 

On the way to the farthest west he attended an Illinois camp- 
meeting where he had preached the year before. The approach 
was picturesque: " Crossing the Ohio we left Kentucky, and~took 
four days' provision for man and beast, and struck into the wil- 
derness. Lying out was no hardship, but the water was ex- 
tremely bad, and the flies intolerable. Some had attempted to 
go through the prairies, but had turned back, and advised us not 
to try it; but we resolved to go, trusting the Lord. On the third 
day the flies afflicted us sorely, wdien a kind Providence sent a 
strong breeze and blew them all away. After twelve hours a 
shower of rain succeeded, and blessed man and beast with water 
to drink. On Saturday morning, as we drew near to the encamp- 
ment, about thirty of the neighbors fell in with us. We rode 
two deep, and a number of excellent singers went in front. We 
were all glad, and as we moved they sung delightfully, ' with the 
spirit and with the understanding;' and as we ax)proached the 




(520) 



William Winans a Preacher on Trial. 



521 



congregation met ns with open arms, and welcomed us in the 
name of the Lord. The Lord was in onr midst." 

On the return he attended another camp-meeting in the terri- 
tory. " The people received us as angels of God, and the Lord 
blessed us with many conversions. On Monday as the sun rose 
I preached, and then started for Kentucky. A Chickamauga Li- 
dian who got converted when I was here last year, stood at a 
distance and looked on until he could refrain no longer, then 
rushed through the crowd, caught me around the neck, and cried 
aloud, saying, 'I see your face no more!' We rode forty-five 
miles, lodged in the wilderness, and rested in peace." 

Late in September he rejoined Bishop Asbury at the "Western 
Conference, which began October 1, at Liberty Hill, near Nash- 
ville. The Conference was held at a camp-meeting, the preachers 
lodging on the encampment, while the Bishops, in view of Bishop 
Asbury 's feeble health, staid at the residence of Green Hill, 
the same at whose North Carolina home the first Annual Con- 
ference was held in 1785. " We sat," says the senior, " six hours 
a day, stationed eighty-three preachers, and all was peace. On 
Friday the sacrament was administered, and we hope there were 
souls converted, and strengthened, and sanctified," 

Seventeen preachers were admitted on trial, among them Will- 
iam Winans. He was born in West Pennsylvania, 1788. His 
childhood and youth were subjected to a severe and rugged dis- 
cipline. " The poverty of a widowed mother rendered it needful 
that he should at an early age labor for his own support and 
that of the other members of her family. He was thus em- 
ployed in the iron foundries of his neighborhood, where associ- 
ation exposed him to every form of vice. When about sixteen 
years of age his family removed to the State of Ohio. He was 
brought to see his sin and deplore it, and joined the Church, and 
after months of earnest prayer found the forgiveness of sins, and 
received the witness of the Spirit to his adoption. At a night- 
meeting while leading in prayer, he found the pearl of great 
price, and from this period dated his conversion to God. He 
was shortly after appointed class-leader, then licensed to exhort." 
Having exercised his gifts as an exhorter for one year, he was 
licensed to preach, and recommended to Conference. He was 
appointed to the old Limestone Circuit, as junior preacher: the 
next year to Yincennes Circuit, which included all the settle- 



522 



History of Meihodism. 



merits on the Wabash and White rivers, from the Indiana line 
to tlie Ohio Biver. He found a small society of forty-three 
members which Jesse Walker had organized at Yincennes the 
year before, and returned to the next Conference one hund.red 
and twenty-five. In x4ugust, 1810, while young Winans was on 
this circuit, occurred the historic interview betvv-een Tecumseh, 
a Shawnee chief, and General Harrison, who was Governor of 
the Territory. Dissatisfied with a late treaty between the Gov- 
ernor and the Miami Indians, by which certain lands on the 
Wabash were ceded to the Government, Tecumseh sought the 
abrogation of the treaty. The interview took jjlace in a grove 
of trees standing a short distance from the Governor's house, 
the Indian chief having objected to the conference being held 
on the portico, as proposed. At one point in the negotiations 
fears were entertained that the meeting would end in a bloody 
massacre. Amid the excitement that such an occasion would 
produce, the Methodist preacher evinced characteristic coolness 
and courage. Unwilling, if his services were needed, to be only a 
silent spectator, he ran to the house of the Governor, and obtain- 
ing a gun posted himself at the door as the guard of the family. 
To the self-possession and alertness of young W^inans, no less 
than to the calm bearing of the Governor (whose eye quailed 
not during the menacing demonstrations of Tecumseh), may be 
attributed the peaceful termination of the interview. 

In the fall transfers were wanted for the Mississippi country, 
and William Winans, with Sela Paine, took the Natchez trace 
for that region of the Church and country to be henceforth asso- 
ciated with his development, his labors, and his death, and there 
we shall meet him again. 

The journal of Asbury on the road says: "Prospects in Mis- 
souri are great. Bishop McKendree has magnified his office, and 
penetrated farther to the West than I have, already. From the 
Western Conference vre have traveled rapidly, chiefly together. 
We hope to strike off a thousand or twelve hundred miles before 
the South Carolina Conference." 

The diary of McKendree shows that, in company with his sen- 
ior, he started from Liberty Hill the day after the Conference 
rose, preached in many places, attended two camp-meetings, and 
then went on to Charleston, where he remained two weeks, 
preaching in the different churches. 



The Beginning of Negro Missions. 



523 



They move on from Charleston, through Augusta, to the 
camp-grouncl in Green county, Georgia, where the Conference 
is held the last days of the year. Asbury's journal gives the 
lights and the shadows: 

Dec. 18, 1808. — I preached in A.ugnsta. My flesh sinks under labor. We are rid- 
ing in a poor thirty dollar chaise, in partnership, two bishops of us; but it must be 
confessed it tallies well with the weight of our purses. What bishops ! Well ; but 
we hear great news, and we have great times, and each W^estern, Southern, and 
the Virginia Conference will have one thousand souls truly converted to God; 
and is not this an equivalent for a light purse? And are we not well paid for 
starving and toil? Yes, glory be to God! 

Sabbath 25. — Christmas-day. We opened our Conference on Monday. Be- 
tween sixty and seventy men were present, all of one spirit. We appointed three 
missionaries — one for Tombigbee ; one for Ashley and Savannah, and the country 
between; and one to labor between Santee and Cooper rivers. Increase within 
the bounds of this Conference three thousand and eiglity-eight. Preacliing, and 
exhortations, and singing, and prayer — we had all tliese without intermission on 
the camp-ground, and we have reasons to believe that many souls will be convert- 
ed. The number of traveling and local preachers present is about tliree hun- 
dred. There are people here with their tents who have come one hundred and 
fifty miles. The prospects of doing good are glorious. 

Three missionaries! Matthew P. Sturdevant enters the Tom- 
bigbee country, and Alabama Methodism begins its record. The 
other two are to the negro slaves in South Carolina. 

The South Carolina Conference then began what was kept up 
for half a century — sending a class of good preachers to evan- 
gelize the slaves. In many cases they were superior men, who 
devoted themselves to what the world esteemed an inferior work. 
J. H, Mellard was the missionary on Savannah Kiver, and James 
E. Glenn on the Santee. Twelve years later a young man from 
Vermont, who had graduated at Middlebury College with a 
shattered constitution and unsettled religious principles, sought 
the South for health and employment. James E. Glenn received 
him to his home at Cokesbury, and as one of the trustees of the 
village academy secured him a position. Though born in the 
North, he was converted and developed in the South; became the 
first President of Eandolph Macon College, Virginia, and died 
in the same position at Wesleyan University, Connecticut; and 
in the opinion of many competent judges was the ablest preacher 
who has appeared in American Methodism. No man had more 
influence in shaping Stephen Olin's early Southern life, and in 
giving it " an unlooked-for turn," than James E. Glenn. 



524 



Ilisfonj of Methodism. 



A glance at tlie men and their distribution will show that the 
Conference holding the extreme Southern position is strong, and 
laying a foundation for the future. 

Lovick Pierce is presiding elder of the Oconee District, Brit- 
ton Capel of the Ogeechee, Lewis Myers of the Saleuda, Daniel 
Asbury of the Catawba, and Jonathan Jackson of the Camden 
District. James Jenkins, Hilliard Judge, Samuel Dunwoody, 
William Gassaway, William M. Kennedy, James Kussell, Joseph 
Tarpley, are among the laborers cultivating this portion of the 
vineyard; and this year sixteen recruits are added, among them 
William Capers, Anthony Senter, and Eobert L. Kennon. 

Continuing their route, in partnership, the two itinerant gen- 
eral superintendents visited Wilmington, Newbern, and Wash- 
ington, and reached Tarboro, North Carolina, on the last day of 
January. The Virginia Conference began there the next day. 
Bishop McKendree was now among his old acquaintances, 
preached admirably, and ordained the elders. Bishop Asbury 
says: " We had eighty-four preachers present; sixty of them the 
most pleasing, promising young men; seventeen preachers were 
admitted; in all the Conference there are but three married 
men." The first three bishops were bachelors, and so were 
Cooper, Bruce, Lee, and a great company of that generation. 

In their northward visitation the two itinerant general super- 
intendents passed through New York, where their "attention 
was strongly excited by the steam-boat — a great invention." 
Little did they dream of the effect of that new motor in facili- 
tating the spread of their gospel. They traveled every day — 
Sundays of course excepted — to the 14th of June, when they 
reached Monmouth, Maine, the seat of the New England Con- 
ference. This trip, which occupied twenty-one days, can now 
be made in as. many hours, and without fatigue. 

June 10 Bishop McKendree notes in his diary: 

I have passed tlirougli nearly all the sea-port towns in my course, and preached 
in Boston, Lynn, and Portsmouth, this week. There is a beautiful prospect of 
religion in Portsmouth, tlie seat of government for Xew Hampshire. I heard 
more doctrinal sentiments and more breathing after holiness expressed in a love- 
feast here than in any otlier place I have visited lately. This Society has been 
raised, and a meeting-house purchased, by George Pickering, in the course of 
this year. 

From New England they proceeded to finish the round, 
by different routes to the Western Conference — Asbury going 



First Conference in Cincinnati. 



525 



through Pittsburg, and McKenclree passing through Steuben- 
ville, Zanesville, Chillicothe, and reaching Cincinnati the last of 
September. His record of one week is: "My rides have been 
long. Eode through much rain, preached nine times to small, 
lonely congregations, in the course of this week." He attended 
three more camp-meetings — the first near Chillicothe, the second 
at Eev. P. Gatcli's, and the last at Kev. John CoUins's. 

Henry Boehm was the traveling companion of the senior 
Bishop, and was specially useful in preaching to the Germans. 
Boehm's journal tells of the first Methodist preaching to his 
thrifty and thoughtful countrymen in the West: 

September 23 we reached one of Bishop Asbury's best homes and dearest 
friends — Philip Gatch. While the Bishop rested there I took a tour among the 
Germans. Some of them had not heard preaching in their own tongue since they 
left their native land. Tears flowed from many eyes, and they heard with delight 
the word of life. What has God wrought since among the Germans! 

September 30, 1809, the Western Conference commenced its session in Cincin- 
nati. This was the first Conference held in what has since become the Queen 
City of the West. There were some splendid men at this Conference, who were 
destined, under God, to lay the foundations of Methodism in what is now the 
mighty West. I heard some excellent preaching here. 

Eight elders were ordained, among them Samuel Parker, Miles 
E^rper, John Collins, and Peter Cartwright. Boehm continues : 

On Sunday, the 8th of October, Bishop Asbury preached in the morning, Learner 
Blackman in the afternoon, and Samuel Parker in the evening. The sermons 
were all good, but Parker's excelled. Over fifty years have passed away since I 
heard him, and yet the image of the eloquent Parker is before me, and I remem- 
ber with what overwhelming pathos he dwelt on the "fellowship of His sufferings." 
The word ran through the audience like electricity, tears flowed, and shouts were 
heard. It was a most appropriate sermon for the last before the Conference ad- 
journed. It prepared the ministers for the work of suffering with their Lord if 
they would reign with him. 

Bishop Asbury then delivered to the Methodists in Cincinnati a farewell ad- 
dress, which was not only able and ingenious, but truly affecting. We had spent 
two Sabbaths there, and on the morrow were to take our departure. I heard fif- 
teen sermons at this Conference from the master-minds of the West, men who 
were giving tone and character to Methodism through all that vast region. 

With regret we bid farewell to our kind friends in Cincinnati and started for the 
South Carolina Conference, several of the preachers Avith us. We -entered Ken- 
tucky, and at midnight the Bishop called us up and we traveled twenty-five miles 
to Mount Gerizim, where he had an appointment. Bishop McKendree here 
preached a sweet sermon from "Is it well with tliee?" He used to inquire of his 
ilying sister, Frances Moore, whom I knew very well, "Is it well with thee?" and 



526 



History of Methodism. 



when he was liimself on liis death-bed he exchumed, "All is well!" Bishop As- 
bury preached from "Sufler the word of exhortation," and then ordained.* 

Bishop McKendree lias completed his first round. His biog- 
rapher says: "He introduced a new style of things in i^residing 
over the Annual Conferences; for while Bishop Asbury always 
presided with dignity and impartiality, yet he was regarded by 
the preachers as a father, and did not on all occasions adhere 
strictly to the Bules of Order in the management of Conference 
business. His age, his long services, and his intimate acquaint- 
ance with the whole work and with the workmen, gave him a x^o- 
sition no one else could reasonably expect to occupy, and relieved 
him from the necessity of attending rigidly to parliamentary 
usage. But Bishop McKendree felt that his relation was in 
some respects a different one. Many of those over whom he w^as 
called to preside were older and more experienced than himself. 
Besides, he was a man of method, as was evinced in every thing 
he did and said, and had long since come to the conclusion that 
a close adherence to established rules by deliberative bodies is 
not only a protection to the minority and the president, but is 
calculated to expedite business. And as he was prompt, impar- 
tial, and courteous in deciding all such questions of law and or- 
der as properly devolved upon him, he soon became, in the esti- 
mation of the whole Connection, a model president." f • 

Asbury's criticism at the Virginia Conference was, "Mighty in 
talk; " McKendree's at the New York: " We had much harmony, 
peace, and love among the preachers; but business was done in the 
most desultory manner, owing to an entire abandonment of man- 
ner, and a flood of words. There were some attempts to correct 
these errors, in order to facilitate business, but they proved inef- 
fectual. Friday the Conference concluded [ten days]; and in my 
opinion the business might all have been done in six days." 

It may well be doubted whether there is any deliberative or 
executive body which equals a Methodist Conference, as at pres- 
ent constituted, in good order and the dispatch of business. 
Coke, Asbury, and Whatcoat w^ere Englishmen, and although 
wise, great, and good, could not conform their mode of adminis- 

*Boehm says: "It was not his [Asbury's] custom to tarry after Conference 
adjourned. He moved right on, and often his horse was at the door and he was 
ready to commence his journey as soon as the benediction was pronounced." 

t Life and Times of McKendree, by Paine. 



First Delegated Conference. 



527 



tration to American ideas. The native Bisliop " placed himself 
and his office in harmony with the feelings and sentiments of 
his countrymen, by refusing to govern except according to law." 

The first delegated General Conference met in New York, May 
1, 1812, composed of ninety members. Now was to be tested the 
fealty of her representatives in the highest judicatory of the 
Church to the Constitution itself. "Methodism was about to 
pass the ordeal which the civil government had experienced in 
the first Congress under the Federal Constitution. And as in 
the latter case the practical application of the constitution was 
rendered both more difficult and important on account of the 
novelty of the experiment and the danger of introducing prece- 
dents which might lead to disastrous consequences, so in the 
former the utmost caution was necessary to begin the adminis- 
tration of the newly adopted organic laws of the Church con- 
formably to the true intent and spirit of the ecclesiastical con- 
stitution. In both the highest qualities of mind and heart were 
needed. There was this obvious difference, however, in the 
charters under which they respectively acted — the two govern- 
ments not only differ in their origin, nature, design, and mode 
of operations, but moreover, while the power vested in Congress 
is limited by specific grants of power, to be exercised for the gen- 
eral welfare, the delegated General Conference possessed, by con- 
stitutional right, all power originally belonging to the whole body 
they represented, except certain clearly defined prohibitions."^' 

Among the ninety seated in "old John Street Church" we 
gladly recognize such veterans as Garrettson, Cooper, Ware, Lee, 
Bruce, Keed, and Snethen; and a fair proportion of that second 
generation of men whose lives are Methodist history — Soule, 
Hedding, Bangs, Pickering, Sale, Blackman, Sargent, and Kos- 
zell; but a special interest gathers about a sprinkling of picked 
young men who come the first time to the front — Lovick Pierce, 
John Early, Thomas L. Douglass, James E. Glenn, Samuel Dun- 
woody, Enoch George, and R. R. Roberts. 

At the opening of the Conference Bishop McKendree made a 
communication in writing, portions of Avhich were referred to 
appropriate committees. The address was designed to call the 
attention of the Conference to the condition and wants of the 
Church. It was the beginning of episcopal addresses, which 



Life and Times of McKendree, by Paine. 



528 



HistGvy of Methodism. 



have been contiiiiTecI frciii ilict time. Bisliop Asbiiry made a 
long verbal address, directing it cliietiy to his colleague. 

Asbury had been trained in the English Wesleyan school, and 
his presidency had been similar, in some respects, to the British 
system of holding Conferences. The sessions held nnder him 
had not been conducted very strictly by parliamentary rules. 
An octogenarian who was present describes the scene: 

McKendree's address was read in Conference, but as it was a new thing the 
aged Bishop (Asbury) rose to his feet immediately after the paper was read, and 
addressed the junior Bishop to the following effect: "I liave something to say to 
you before the Conference." The junior also rose to liis feet, and they stood face 
to face. Bishop Asbury went on to say: ''This is a new thing. I never did busi- 
ness in this way, and why is this new thing introduced?" The junior Bishop 
promptly replied: "You are our father, we are your sons; you never have had 
need of it. I am only a brother, and have need of it." Bishop Asbury said no 
more, but sat down with a smile on his face. The scene is now before me. I be- 
lieve tlie Bishops have pursued the plan ever since. 

At this Conference local deacons were made eligible to the of- 
fice of elders. A motion to remove the Book Concern to the 
city of Baltimore — no property as yet having been purchased in 
New York — was lost, and Daniel Hitt and Thomas Ware were 
elected Book Agents. The Western Conference disappears from 
the Minutes, its territory being divided into the Ohio and the 
Tennessee Conferences. An old c^uestion is up. Asbury's 
journal says: "After a serious struggle of two days in General 
Conference to change the mode of appointing presiding elders, 
it remains as it was. Means had been used to keep back every 
presiding elder who was known to be favorable to appointments 
by the Bishops, and long and earnest speeches have been made 
to influence the minds of the members. I had sevei^iteen of the 
preachers to dine with me. There was vinegar, mustard, and a 
still greater portion of oil; but the disappointed parties sat down 
in peace, and we enjoyed our sober meal." 

The venerable man who had been permitted to see the Church 
organization completed, and all its vital forces in full play, never 
met another General Conference. His journal in June, 1813: 
"I have made my will, appointing Bishop McKendree, Daniel 
Hitt, and Henry Boehm my executors. If I do not in the mean- 
time spend it, I shall leave, when I die, an estate of two thou- 
sand dollars, I believe. I give it all to the Book Concern. This 
money, and somewhat more, I have inherited from dear depart- 



Bishop Ashun/s Last Conference. 



529 



ed Methodist friends in the State of Maryland who died cliild- 
less, besides some legacies which I have never taken. Let all 
return and continue to aid the cause of piety." He kept mov- 
ing round among the churches until 1815, when we find him 
again in the West. "My friends in Philadelphia," he says, 
"gave me a little light, four-wheeled carriage, but God and the 
Baltimore Conference made me a richer present —thej^ gave me 
John AYesley Bond for a traveling companion. Has he his equal 
on the earth for excellences of every kind as an aid ? I groan one 
minute with pain, and shout Glory! the next." He is ever and 
anon in the houses of those whose parents and grandparents 
were converted under his ministry in the Eastern States. " In 
this family I have served four generations," is the record on 
baptizing a child in Kentucky. "I preached in his grandfa- 
ther's house in Maryland in 1774," is the record as he concludes 
a religious service in a log-cabin at the western foot of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains," and adds: "God still dwells with this fam- 
ily." At the Ohio Conference he is present, but unable to pre- 
side; he says: "John Sale finished the plan of the stations from a 
general draft I furnished him. We closed our labors in peace. 
One thing I remark — our Conferences are out of their infancy; 
their rulers can now be called from amongst themselves." 

In the journey with his colleague, on the road from the Ohio 
Conference, they "had a long, earnest talk about the affairs cf 
the Church ; I told him the Western part of the empire would be 
the glory of America, and ought to be marked out for five Con- 
ferences;" and he marked out five where now are fifty. 

At Bethlehem, near Lebanon, the Tennessee Conference met, 
October, 1815. It was Bishop Asbury's last session. He says: 
"Sabbath. — I ordained the deacons and preached a sermon, in 
which Dr. Coke was remembered. My eyes fail. I resign the 
stations to Bishop McKendree; I will take away my feet." 
Thirty times in thirty-one years he had visited the South. " I 
wish to visit Mississippi, but am resigned." Let us glance at 
the situation in the West: In the Ohio Conference David Young 
is presiding elder of the Ohio District, Jacob Young of the Mus- 
kingum, James Quinn of the Scioto, John Sale of the Miami, 
Samuel Parker of the Kentucky, and Charles Holliday of the 
Salt Biver District. They are helped by such men as William 
McMahon, Marcus Lindsey, J. B. Finley, and Benjamin Lakin. 
34 



530 



History of Methodism. 



Henry B. Bascom appears on the list as junior preacher on the 
Mad River Circuit. In the Tennessee Conference Thomas L. 
Douglass is the presiding elder of the Nashyille District, John 
McGee of the Cumberland, Peter Cartwright of the Green Riv- 
er, James Axley of the Holston, Jesse Walker of the Illinois, S. 
H. Thompson of the Missouri, and Samuel Sellers of the Mis- 
sissippi District. Amiong their helpers are John Lane, Thomas 
Nixon, Lewis Garrett, Joshua Boucher, Benjamin Malone, Jesse 
Cunningham, John Henninger, John Mennifee; serving a mem- 
bership of 46,500, reaching from the Lakes to the Gulf. 

Despairing of keeping up with the Annual Conference ses- 
sions any longer, Asbury moved by slow and painful stages, flat- 
tering himself with the prospect of meeting the General Confer- 
ence, which was to assemble in Baltimore on the 2d of May, 1816. 
His appearance at this time is described as more like a moving 
skeleton than a living man. With his faithful traveling com- 
panion, Bond, in a close carriage, he reached Richmond, Vir- 
ginia, wdiere he preached in the afternoon, March 24, in the old 
Methodist Church. Perceiving his weakness, his friends endeav- 
ored to dissuade him from preaching, but he insisted that he 
must once more deliver his public testimony in that place. They 
b^re him from his carriage — for he was unable either to walk 
or stand — to the pulpit, and seated him on a table prepared for 
that purpose. Though he had to make frequent pauses in the 
course of his sermon, recovering breath, yet he spoke nearly an 
hour, from Rom. ix. 28: "For he will finish the work, and cut it 
short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make 
upo 1 the earih." This closed his public labors on earth. Fri- 
day he reached the house of his old friend, George Arnold, of 
Spcttsylvaiiia. He had hoped to reach Fredricksburg, twenty 
miles beyond, but the severity of the weather and his failing 
strength prevented. The night was one of much suffering. 
The next morning the family proposed to send for a physician, 
but he objected, saying that his breath would be gone before the 
doctor could get there, and he could only pronounce him dead. 
It was evident that his end was drawing near. On Sunday, at 
eleven o'clock, he desired that the family might be called to- 
gether; and at his request Rev. J. W. Bond sung, prayed, and 
expounded the twenty-first chapter of Revelation. Throughout 
the exercises he appeared to be very much engaged in devotion. 



Bishop Asburifs Death. 



531 



They offered him a little barley-water, but he was unable to 
swallow, and his speech began to fail. Observing the distress 
o£ his beloved Bond, he raised his hand and looked joyfully at 
him; and in reply to his question if he felt the Lord Jesus Christ 
to be precious, he seemed to exert all his remaining strength, 
and in token of complete victory raised both hands. A few 
minutes after, as he sat upon his chair, without a struggle, and 
with great composure, he breathed his last. His body was de- 
posited in the burial-ground of the family, but a month later, 
at the request of the Church in Baltimore, was taken up and 
brought to that city. A vast concourse of citizens attended the 
corpse as it was carried from the General Conference room in 
Light street to the place prepared for its reception in Eutaw 
street, preceded by Bishop McKendree as the officiating minis- 
ter, and followed by the members of the General Conference as 
chief mourners. The corpse was placed in Eutaw Street Church, 
and a funeral-sermon preached by Bishop McKendree, after 
which the body was deposited in a vault under the recess of the 
pulpit. There it remained for forty years, when it was removed 
to Mt. Olivet Cemetery. 

Beginning his itinerant ministry at seventeen Francis As- 
bury ended it in his seventy-first year. During that time it 
is estimated that he averaged a sermon or an exhortation a day. 
The extent of his journeys, during his ministry of forty-five 
years in the United States, was equal, upon an average, to the 
circumference of the globe every five years — and this by private 
conveyance, mainly horseback. During the last thirty-two years 
of his life he presided in two hundred and thirty-four 
nual Conferences, and ordained about four thousand ministers. 

To him has been justly applied the remark of a British essay- 
ist, that it is vain to talk of men numerically : if the passions of 
a man are exalted to a summit like the majestic steadiness with 
which St. Paul points out the single object of his life, and the 
unquenchable courage with Vv^hich he walks toward it, he is a 
thousand men! 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 



Crmada Methodism: The Planting and the Separation — Clergy Eeserves — Ever- 
son — Case — Bangs — Losee — Church Union in the Dominion — New Kules — 
Joshua Soule Book Agent — Enoch George and E. E. Eoherts elected Bishops 
— A Conference down the Mississippi, organized in 1816. 

THE war with England (1812-1815) began and ended since 
the last General Conference. The usual ill result upon 
spiritual religion, and the special effect of disturbing the rela- 
tions of Canada Methodism with the Mother Church, followed. 

The original planting of Methodism North of the St. Law- 
rence was instrumentally due to what on one side is censured as 
toryism, and on the other is praised as loyalty. In 1780 a Wes- 
leyan local preacher — Tuffey — as commissary of a British regi- 
ment, came to Quebec, and preached there with permanent re- 
sults. As he was the first in Lower Canada, so Major Neal, of a 
cavalry regiment, was the first Methodist preacher in "Upper 
Canada. A native of Pennsylvania, at the breaking out of the 
!]^evolution he joined the British Army, and after the war he 
taught school and preached on the Niagara frontier. 

The exodus of the Embury family, first from the city to the 
rural parts of New York and thence, in 1774, across the line, gave 
to Canada Methodism the same origin with that of John Street. 
While mowing in his field in 1773 the good Philip injured him- 
self so severely as to die suddenly at the age of forty-five years, 
"greatly beloved and much lamented." His widow and sons, 
and brothers and kindred, including Paul and Barbara Heck, 
took shelter under the flag of George the Third, at the approach 
o- '76, and belonged to the first Methodist class in Augusta, 
Tapper Canada; and there they are buried. 

William Losee was sent over by Bishop Asbury from the New 
York Conference in 1790, and went again next year " as soon as 
the winter was well set in and the ice on the St. Lawrence strong 
enough to allow crossing with a horse." He was followed by 
Sawyer, and Coleman, and other missionaries. In 1805 William 
Case, "father of Indian missions in Canada," and Henry 
Ryan were appointed to the Bay of Quinte. "Father Case" did 
more for Indian evangelization than Eliot or Brainerd. Nathan 
(532) 



Canada — The Clergy Reserves'' Question. 533 



Bangs went to Canada in 1799 as a surveyor, but for want of 
constant employment he taught school. In 1800 he was awak- 
ened and converted through the instrumentality of the Kevs. 
Coleman and Sawyer, near Queenstown, and commenced in 1801 
as an itinerant preacher under the direction of the presiding 
elder of the district — Joseph Jewell. He spent the first seven 
years of his laborious ministerial life in Canada, after which he 
entered the work in the United States, and earned an imperisha- 
ble record. In 1811 the apostolic Asbury made a visitation to 
Canada on his way to the Genesee Conference, with which it was 
connected. In his journal he says: "Our ride has brought us 
through one of the finest countries I have ever seen; the timber 
of noble growth, the cattle well-looking, crops abundant, on a 
most fruitful soil. To the people my soul is much united." 

The Boswellian Boehm gives an account of crossing the river 
before steam ferries and suspension bridges were known: "We 
crossed the St. Lawrence in romantic style. We had four Indi- 
ans to paddle us over. They lashed tliree canoes together, and 
put our horses into them, their fore feet into one canoe, their 
hind feet in another. It was a singular load — three canoes, 
three passengers, three horses, and four Indians. They were to 
take us over for three dollars. It v/as nearly three miles across 
to where we landed." 

Anticipating the regular course of history a little: the most 
influential man in Canadian Methodism was one of an intellect- 
ual family raised up among themselves — Egerton Ryerson, D.D. 
His bold and powerful handling of the Clergy Reserves question 
brought him into notoriety when a young man, and he continued 
long in important public service, and must live in grateful ]"e- 
membrance. The case stood thus: 

The "Clergy Eeserves" consisted of one-seventli of all the surveyed lands of 
Upper Canada, set apart by the "Constitutional Act" which established the par- 
liamentary government of Upper Canada, for the " support of a Protestant cler- 
gy," in contradistinction to the Eoman Catholic clergy of Lower Canada, who 
were largely endowed by tithes and lands. It was intended that Upper Canada 
should be an English and Protestant province, while Lower Canada should be 
French and Eoman Catholic. In Lower Canada there was no legislative endow- 
ment for Protestantism, in Upper Canada there was no legislative endowment for 
Eomanism. 

It was now claimed that the "Protestant clergy" of the "Constitutional Act" 
were the clergy of the Church of England alone; it was the Established Church of 
Upper Canada as well as of England and Ireland. Not only was one-seventh of the 



534 



History of Methodism. 



lands of the Province claimed as the patrimony of the clergy of that Church, but 
large English parliamentary grants were applied for, and a large endowment of 
land was granted for a University College, including a Faculty of Theology, all 
under the direction of the authorities of that Church, and based on its Articles 
of Eeligion and Service of A\'orshi23. 

But even this monstrous system might not have excited much attention or o]3- 
position, had it not appeared tliat the great object of the whole scheme was not 
merely the support of the Church of England in Canada, but the extermination 
of other religious persuasions, especially of the Methodists, who were represented 
as republicans and overrunning tlie country, and whose influence was represented 
as hostile to the civil and religious institutions of England.'^"' 

After a conflict of twenty years, religions liberty — eqnality be- 
fore tlie law — was secnred for all Protestant Chnrches. Others 
shared in the benefit, bnt Methodism led in the bold challenge 
and in the protracted struggle, and lost nothing by it, as its com- 
manding position in Canada this day shows. 

A delegation from the London Methodist Missionary Society 
was present at the opening of the General Conference of 1816, 
asking the Americans to retire from the field. Two resolutions 
adopted at Baltimore show the drift of the repl}^: 

Although the late hostilities between the two countries separated for some time 
those provinces from the immediate superintendency of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church in America, yet all the circuits, except Quebec, were as regularly supplied 
as circumstances would admit of, with American preachers. 

It furthermore appears, from written and verbal communications, that it is the 
desire of the great majority of the people in Upper and Lower Canada to be sup- 
plied, as heretofore, with joreachers from the United States. 

Canadian Methodists were at a disadvantage in any contest 
among citizens. The chief charge against them at home, and the 
common ground of opposition during many years, was that their 
ministers were disaffected to the goyernment and institutions of 
the country, being ordained and controlled by bishops in the 
United States. The agitation began now which ended in the with- 
drawal of the jurisdiction of the American General Conference 
from Canada; not, however, until English Wesleyan missionaries 
had been sent into the field, and complications had arisen that 
required delicate negotiations to preserve fraternal relations. 

That portion of America which people in the United States ha- 
bitually think of as contracted and cold is indeed the shoulders 
of the continent — its broadest part. It is not only fertile in soil 
and bracing in climate, but nourishes one of the most spiritual. 



"Canadian Methodism: Its Epoclis and Characteristics. 1882. 



The Booh Concern — Methodist Magazine. 



535 



cultivated, and aggressive forms of Methodism in the world. In 
their institutions of learning, their tasteful, commodious church- 
es, their missionary offerings, their earnest piety, and their ex- 
emplification of the modes, as well as the spirit, of Wesley anism, 
they fall behind none. After several adjustments and forms in 
Church organization, Canadian Methodism, in the centennial 
year, presents itself as one compact body. Until 1874 there 
w^ere five bodies of Methodists: the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
the Primitive Methodists, the Bible Christian Methodists, the 
New Connection Methodists, and the Wesleyan Methodists. In 
1874 the New Connection Methodists and tlie Methodists of the 
Wesleyan Church were united, and in 1883 the remaining bodies 
w^ere joined together, and now these five, with a membership 
aggregating nearly two hundred thousand, make one common 
Methodism for the Dominion of Canada. 

It was necessary to change the management of the 'Book Con- 
cern. Though its capital was reported at $80,000, it was embar- 
rassed. Joshua Soule and T. Mason were elected Agents, and 
directed to resume the publication of the Methodist Magazine, 
which had been started in 1789, but was suspended the year fol- 
lowing. In 1818 it was resumed, under the editorship of Joshua 
Soule. Not less than ten thousand subscribers were obtained 
the first year. The work was published monthly until 1841, 
when it assumed the title of Quayterly Bevietr, in which character 
it continued. The magazine would compare indift'erently v/ith 
modern literature of its kind; but it was a great step in advance. 
Its doctrinal sermons and essays, its biographical sketches, and 
its occasional letters of news, with now and then a review of 
some author who had indulged, hitherto with impunity, in an 
assault upon Methodist doctrine or polity, made good reading 
for the times. It was a medium of communication for preach- 
ers and people; and while it edified and united the Church, 
it also prepared the way for the weekly visits of the Christian 
Advocates, and the more elaborate Quarterly. Joshua Soule 
frankly notified the Conference of the risk they ran in mak- 
ing him Book Agent, for he knew nothing about the business. 
However, upon his general force of character they elected him. 
He found the Concern v/ithout credit, and the stock old and com- 
paratively valueless. He opened new books, and as a loan of 
money was indispensable he procured it from Baltimore, his 



536 



Hisforij of Methodism. 



friends there — Littig and Bryce — indorsing for liim. The Book 
Concern prospered under his administration. He had no diffi- 
culty afterward in getting all the money he wanted — even during 
the financial crisis which occurred while he was in the agency. 
With Mason, his assistant, he boxed the books himself, and had 
few or no losses by transmissions or letters. The Hymn-book 
and Discipline were the principal publications. He was his own 
book editor, and went home at night and worked on the Magazine, 
often till twelve o'clock. Hence it was pleasantly called, by an 
editorial friend, "the work of darkness." 

Two new Conferences were added — Missouri and Mississippi. 
The annual salary of a traveling preacher was changed in 1800 
from sixty-four to eighty dollars, and in 1816 from eighty to one 
hundred dollars. The ratio of representation in the General 
Conference was altered from five to seven. A new" clause was 
inserted in the Discipline, making it the duty of the Bishops to 
prescribe a course of study and of reading to be pursued by 
undergraduates or candidates for the ministry. 

Of course the old question of the election of presiding elders 
by the Conference, out of a number nominated by the Bishop, 
was up, and this time with a new feature in the way of an amend- 
ment, which was accepted by the New York mover: 

Subsequently Xatlian Bangs offered to amend the first answer by appending 
tlie foUoAving words to it : "And the presiding elder so elected and appointed shall 
remain in office four years, unless sooner dismissed by the mutual consent of the 
Bishop and the Conference, or unless he be elected to some other office by the General 
Conference. But no presiding elder shall be removed from office during the term 
of four years without his consent, unless the reasons for such removal be stated to 
liim in the presence of the Conference, who shall decide Avitliout debate." 

The whole question was lost by a vote of forty-two to sixty, 
showing an increased conservative majority. 

Slavery also had an airing. Since 1808 each Annual Confer- 
ence had been authorized "to make its own rules about buying 
and selling slaves; " but in 1816 the General Conference resolved 
that "no slave-holder shall be eligible to any official station in 
our Church hereafter, where the laws of the State in which he 
lives will admit of emancipation, and permit the liberated slave 
to enjoy freedom." This was a compromise measure. In 1812, 
a " motion," by an Ohio member, " requesting the Conference to 
inquire into the nature and moral tendency of slavery was voted 
to lie on the table." 



Bishops George and Roberts. 



537 



Enoch George, of the Baltimore Conference, and Kobert Eich- 
ford Roberts, of the Philadelphia, were elected and consecrated 
Bishops; the former receiving fifty-seven, and the latter fifty- 
five votes, out of one hundred and six. 

Enoch George was a native of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 
a region that has been prolific of great men. He was about fifty 
years of age. At the call of Bishop Asbury he labored in South 
Carolina and Georgia several years. His health failing, he re- 
turned to Virginia, and about 1800 entered the Baltimore Con- 
ference, where he filled various important appointments and dis- 
tricts. He is thus described: 

Short of stature, but stoutly built. His features were grave, and expressive of 
strong emotions; his eyes, small and deeply seated beneath an overhanging, heavy 
brow, twinkled or melted into tears, as the sentiments he uttered might demand ; 
and his voice tlirilled or softened the hearts of his auditory, as he poured out his 
soul with a pathos the writer never heard excelled; for he can never forget a ser- 
mon preached in Tennessee at his first visit to that Conference in 1817. His text 
was, "And this is the victory that overcometh the world — even our faith." There 
was something in his manner of address, in the tones of his voice, the subdued 
yet earnest and fervid spirit of the preacher, that affected the whole audience. 
He explained faith, and illustrated its victory by Bible incidents, in the most sim- 
ple and appropriate style. Since then I have heard many impressive sermons 
from the best preachers of the land; they have instructed, charmed, and thrilled 
me; but I have never heard a man who so strongly wrought upon my feelings, 
and kept me bathed in tears from the beginning to the close of his sermon. The 
image of that man of God and the scenes of that hour are still vividly fixed in 
my memory. He wept over sinners; tears were constantly welling up in his eyes, 
and without pausing he would slip a finger behind his spectacles and brush away 
the blinding tear, to be replaced by another at the very next sentence."^" 

After twelve years of episcopal service he died, greatly be- 
loved. His administrative ability was not of a high order. His 
feeling of self-distrust was such as to make the duties of pub- 
lic intercourse, which his ofiice drew upon him, embarrassing and 
painful. For constitutional questions he had no taste. Paul 
never spoke with more plainness to Peter than did his senior col- 
league to Enoch George, who held on his way and let consti- 
tutional constructions take care of themselves. 

The parents of R. R. Roberts moved from Maryland when he 
was a child, and settled at the western base of the Alleghany 
Mountains, and amid such scenes he grew up. 

At the General Conference of 1808 he appeared as a member, 



* Life and Times of McKendree, by Paine. 



538 



History of Methodism. 



clad in homespun style, but such was the impression produced 
by his preaching that at the solicitation of many of the most 
intelligent members of the Church, after the close of the ses- 
sion, Bishop Asbury directed him to quit his work in the West- 
ern backwoods, and take charge of the Baltimore City Station. 
From the competent source before quoted we take the measure 
of the man and preacher: 

The writer first saw Bishop Roberts at the Tennessee Conference of 1817, held 
in Franklin, and heard him preach in the court-house, on Heb. ii. 3. He held 
an immense audience as if spell-bound for more than an liour, while he portrayed 
the fearful consequences of neglecting the "great salvation." He weighed two 
hundred and twenty pounds. His whole person indicated him to be one of nat- 
ure's noblemen. His features were large, benignant, and intellectual. His head 
was of an uncommon size, his forehead high and massive, his eyes blue or hazel- 
colored, his manner of address always easy and graceful, his voice a deep bass, but 
soft and musical ; there was nothing constrained or unnatural in its modulation, 
but it was an earnest and animated conversational tone. When excited by 
"thoughts that burn," his majestic frame seemed to expand, and his "mind-illu- 
mined face" glowed. Many years afterward I heard him again in Huntsville, Al- 
abama, on Sabbath morning of the Conference. The text was, "Alleluia: for the 
Lord God omnipotent reigneth " It was a glorious sermon — worthy of the man 
and the occasion, and as worthy of the theme as any I ever heard. 

He Avas remarkable for humility and simple dignity of manners. He was sur- 
prised at his own popularity as a preacher, and his election to the episcopacy al- 
most overwhelmed him. He always shunned notoriety, and but for conscience' 
sake would have retired to his humble cottage-home, in the most secluded portion 
of Indiana, and spent his life unnoticed and unknown. 

He made an excellent Bishop. The only deficiencies under which he labored 
originated in his size and his sympathies. Owing to his great weight he failed 
on many occasions to reach the Conferences at the proper time, and occasionally 
to get to them at all; for, on account of the want of public conveyances, and the 
condition of the roads, especially in the West and South, lie was obliged to travel 
on horseback, and no horse could be found capable of bearing him through his 
long tours. His sympathies were so strong that he could not always resist their 
influence, even though his judgment might demur. 

Four years before it had been provided " that the Bishops shall 
have authority, in the interval of the General Conference, to ap- 
point another Annual Conference down the Mississippi, if they 
find it to be necessary." They were not able to do any thing 
in that way. Now the organization had been deterniined on 
definitely, and Bishop Roberts's first visitation was to the Mis- 
sissi^jpi Conference. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 



Difficulties of Planting Methodism in tlie South-west— Useful Local Preachers 
and Laymen — Vick, Bowman, Tooley, Ford, French — From Tombigbee to At- 
takapas — Nolley's Death — Occupation of New Orleans — Tliree Conferences — 
Lasley, Griffin, Drake, Sellers, Hearn, Hewit, Nixon, Shrock, Owens. 

THE territory of the original Natchez Circuit was enriched 
in the first decade of the century by the immigration of 
Methodist families from the two Carolinas and from Georgia — 
Owens, Kobertson, Baldridge (five brothers), and Forman. After 
getting class-meetings and prayer-meetings under way, they re- 
solved to build a church. An eligible spot near a spring having 
been selected and secured to trustees according to Discipline, 
proclamation was made for all who were willing to build the 
Lord's house to meet on a certain day with axes and other tools. 
They met, and the name of Caesar, a godly slave who asked to 
have a hand in the work, is preserved as one of the company. 
" This will do for our first log," said one, running his eye up the 
shaft of a tall tree — and he raised his ax. "Stop!" said Thom- 
as Owens. "Stop a moment, if you please. Neighbors and 
friends, we want the blessing of God on our work; let us begin 
it with prayer." They lifted their hats and kneeled on the 
ground, while Thomas Owens prayed so fervently that they felt 
it was a prophecy of the future prosperity of Spring Hill Church; 
and so it was. In time finer structures succeeded the log-house, 
yet the name of each, and of the camp-ground, was Spring Hill. 
Many souls were born there. The sons of Owens and Robert- 
son were converted and were among the first preachers the 
Mississippi Territory gave to the Mississippi Conference. " Lit- 
tle Tommie Owens," as he was called, was for fifty-five years a 
useful and very popular minister. It was a hard task of his life, 
even when he was eighty years old, to observe the scriptural in- 
junction — "Likewise, must the deacons be grave." The logical 
Winans used to praise and covet the power of Owens in reaching 
the feelings of an audience. John J. Robertson filled circuits 
and colored missions with fidelity, retired late in life to the local 
ranks, and died in his seventy-ninth year, leaving a son who 
represents him in the traveling ministry. 

In the same region, and at an early dav, rose up Hopewell and 

(539) 



540 



Hisionj of Methodism. 



Bethel, other centers of spiritual power, where reyivals and 
camx^-meetings and Conferences made history, and from which 
laborers went into the vineyard. Considering their influence, 
such places may well be called sacred. 

The coming of Eevs. Samuel Sellers and Miles Harper from 
the "W^estern Conference, in the autumn of 1809, was a signal 
event to the Church in Mississippi — they left their impress upon 
the field as few others have done. But before their arrival cer- 
tain local preachers came, and were scon followed by others, who 
mightily strengthened the stakes. Newit Tick, with an interest- 
ing family, was from Yirginia, a x)reacher of several years' stand- 
ing and of excellent ability and character. "When the attempt 
was made in 1807 to build a church in Natchez, though living 
many miles in the country he headed the list with the largest 
subscription fSloO j. In his house near Spring Hill the first Con- 
ference was held in 1813. Public-spirited and zealous, he and 
his large family were a blessing in social as well as in Church 
life. The advantage of a certain location near the Walnut Hills 
was taken in by his intelligent eye; the ridges converging there 
led out into fat lands, and tapped fertile valleys, and by these 
natural roads a future commerce would seek the river at this 
point. He possessed it, laid it off into lots, and the city of Yicks- 
burg began to rise. lie died in 1819. 

About 1810 Matthew Bowman, of South Carolina, settled in 
Amite county, and without delay opened his commission as a 
preacher. Soon he collected members enough for the nucleus 
of a society and, selecting a central point for the older settle- 
ments and the newer, they built the famous Midway Church.' 
From it have gone out standard-bearers in other communities 
and in other States. Bowman, like Tick, preached far and near, 
baptized and married the people, and buried their dead, and set 
them an example of energy, thrift, and benevolence in every-day 
life. The itinerant joastors on their four and six weeks' circuits 
found them helpers indeed. At the age of three-score and ten 
Matthew Bowman died, saying, "I find the gospel the pov>-ev of 
God unto salvation." Wm. W^inans, who had married and fixed 
his home near Midway and was now become the leading minister 
of the South-west, preached the funeral-sermon; and seldom had 
preacher so good a subject. Says the historian of those times: 
" One of the last great joys of the patriarch's heart on earth was 



The Natchez Country — Useful Local Preachers. 541 



the powerful couversion of his son James. It occurred a year 
before liis death." He also entered the local ministry and, after 
preaching for many years in Southern Mississippi, removed west 
of the river and continued his usefulness in the Ouachita coun- 
try, living beyond seventy-five years. 

Henry Tooley, M.D., a native of North Carolina, settled in 
Natchez not later than 1811, Avhere his father and brother pre- 
ceded him, exerting an elevating influence as citizens and Chris- 
tians. Of Dr. Tooley our historian says: "In all Church mat- 
ters he took an active part. He w^as a pillar in the Church. 
Until enfeebled by age he often ofliciated as leader in the prayer 
and class meetings, in addition to his pulpit labors in town and 
country; " and he died at the age of seventy -five. 

The parents of John Ford were of Huguenot ancestry. He 
and his wife were converted in South Carolina under the minis- 
try of George Dougherty. A family of eight sons and five 
daughters resembled their parents in fine intelligence and a no- 
ble personal appearance. About 1807 John Ford led a small 
colony from Marion District to that beautiful and fertile spot in 
the Tennessee River Yalley where Huntsville now stands. A year 
of isolation from civilized society and of exposure to Indian dep- 
redations caused them to quit their new home azid, building flat- 
boats, they floated dowm to the Natchez country. John Ford 
made his home on Pearl Eiver, east of the older settlements. 
He was a model citizen, of commanding and sanctifying influ- 
ence. His home w^as a raliying-point for Methodism. There he 
dispensed a Christian hospitality; and as Yick had entertained 
the first session of the Territorial Conference at Spring Hill, 
Ford entertained the second session on Pearl Piver. Four of 
his sons became Methodist x^i^eachers. One of them — Thomas 
Ford — organized the society and built the first Methodist church 
at the capital of the State, and had it ready in time for holding 
the convention to arrange the Centennial celebrations of 1839. 
John Ford, jr. and David, an older brother, gave to Texas Method- 
ism their useful ministry. Washington Ford was admitted into 
the Conference in 1830 and, after ten years in the itinerancy, 
rendered acceptable service as a local preacher until his death. 

* These items, and many following in this chapter, are gathered mainly from 
the "Introduction of Protestantism into Mississippi and the South-west," by Rev. 
J. G. Jones (1866) ; and his MS. History of Mississippi Methodism. 



542 



History of Metltodism. 



John French, an Irishman, but with five or six years' experi- 
ence as a traveling preacher in the Virginia Conference, found 
his way into the Tombigbee Yalley in 1810. He had married, 
and must therefore locate — not to get rich, but to support his 
family. His coming was a benediction to the people and the 
preachers too, for Sturdevant had been succeeded by Michael 
Burge and John \i. Kennon, and these young preachers needed 
help in administering the sacraments as well as in discipline. 
When Burge retired from this field ( for the itinerancy relieves 
by change) John S. Ford was sent to re enforce it.'" 

In any just account of the rise and progress of the Church in 
the wilderness, mention must be made of certain godly families 
that were providentially dispersed as leaven in the lump or as 
lights in a dark place. Judge AYarner, of South Carolina, set- 
tled on the Bogue Chitto as early as 1803. Of his seven sons 
four became preachers, and a fifth an exhorter. Peter Felder also, 
from the old Edisto Circuit, and others — Sandell, Bickham, Bul- 
lock, and Connerly— made their home on the waters of Tangipa- 
hoa and Bogue Chitto, streams flowing into Lake Pontchartrain. 
These had been trained by such pastors as Isaac Smith, Lewis 
Myers, James Jenkins, and Beddick Pierce, and they brought 
their family altars with them. They sanctified the Sabbath, 
supported camp-meetings, built churches, and were the rallying- 
points and recruiting stations for the itinerant preachers who 
ranged at large. In the valley of Pearl Biver were Bawles — two 
of them preachers — Beagan, Hope H. Lenoir, and other Obed- 
edoms with whom the ark of the Lord rested. Going still east- 
ward to the Tombigbee Yalley, and to the Chickasawha, Buck- 
atonnie, and other streams emptying into Pascagoula Bay, we meet 
the names of McBae, Godfrey, Horn, Boykin, Punches, Easley, 
and Hand, with the Church in their houses. Their descendants 
of the second and third generations have taken the gospel with 
them and planted the Church in many of the thriving scenes of 
our later civilization. 



^ He was not of the Pearl River family of Fords, but after full proof as an 
evangelist on tlie frontier, he returned to Georgia, where in old age and well be- 
loved he lately died. J. W. Kennon was one of a gifted and consecrated family 
of Drothers — the other two being Eobcrt L. and diaries L. He died at his post 
east of the Mississippi, but gave a son (Rev. Roljert W. Kennon) to Texas, where 
he rendered long and valuable service to the Church. 



Mission Woi'k in War--Foii Minis Massacre. 



543 



In tlie spring of 1812 four young men, on horseback, take the 
road to the West. They are missionaries from South Carolina — 
Thomas Griffin, Richmond Nolley, Lewis Hohbs, and Drury Pow- 
eU. At Milledgeville, Georgia, they get passports to go through 
the Indian Nation, of three hundred and fifty miles; for the Creeks 
or Muskogees are directly on their path, and to maintain peace 
with them the Government is careful to keep out mischief-mak- 
ing men. The missionaries represent to His Excellency what 
sort of men they are, he is satisfied, their papei's are made out, 
and with a bow they are retiring. " Stop, brethren," says one of 
them, the pale Nolley, who believed that prayer was never amiss; 
"stop! The Governor has given us passports through the Na- 
tion; let us now ask God to give him a passport from this Vv^orld 
to a better." The Governor and his secretary were called to 
their knees, and they prayed there. 

Passing through the wilderness, crossing five rivers and lying 
out eleven nights, they arrived safely at the Tombigbee Mis- 
sion, where NoUey's appointment was. He entered upon it at 
once, visiting and praying with every family on both sides of 
the river where he had access, teaching the negroes, catechising 
the children, keeping his fasts and his appointments to preach. 
Next spring he w^as joined by John Shrock, from the Dutch-fork 
of Edisto, and a heavenly-minded young man — John Ira Ellis Byrd 
—who gave fifty years of blessed service in the field he was now 
going to. They were both from the South Carolina Conference, 
and just risen to deacon's orders. Not many came through the 
wilderness after them for the next two years. War was begun. 
Tecum sell and his brother, the Prophet, had seized the oppor- 
tunity for revenge. Seeking a far-reaching combination, from 
Canada to Florida, they visited the Southern tribes to bring 
them into alliance with England. Arms and rewards were 
to be famished at Pensacola and Apalachicola, from ships that 
were in those waters. The Choctaws and Cliickasaws refused 
the offer and under their chief, Pushmataha, furnished soldiers 
for defense. The Creeks and Seminoles entered into the league, 
and at the sign of hostilities the white settlements were thrown 
into dismay. Deserting their homes, the people built forts, or 
stations', into which families were crowded. Tv\^elve or fourteen 
of these were in the fork between the Alabama and Tombigbee 
rivers. The murder of individuals and families and an attack upon 



Hist or ]j of Methodism. 



some of the forts kept up alarm ; but in August, 1813, Fort ]Mims, 
a fe^v miles east of the Alabama Eiver, vras attacked by several 
liuudred Indians under the half-breed chief Yreatherford, and a 
horrid massacre followed. Twenty families in the fort were exter- 
minated; only seventeen persons escaped out of two hundred and 
fifty. The horror of Fort Mims drove nearly all the inhabit- 
ants into forts west of the Tombigbee. When the Government 
troops got in motion the Creek warriors met a terrible retribu- 
tion, and a treaty of peace with the chiefs that were left was 
made in August of the next year. The people slowly returned 
to their desolated homes and farms and, but for the hard}' in- 
genuity and courage peculiar to frontier life, famine must have 
followed war. The missionaries staid by the people. Shrock 
insisted on a gun and a port-hole, but Xolley went from fort to 
fort, a messenger of peace, improving the opportunity of preach- 
ing to all the inhabitants. It was a wonder to many how, with- 
out guard, the non-combatant Nolle\^ passed on his preaching 
mission. Whether fortunately preserved from collision with the 
savages, or whether they were restrained by the Divine edict, 
"Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm," so it 
was, no harm befell him; and when the forts were abandoned the 
gospel had been sounded abroad through all that country. 

NoUey and Shrock had reached their field of labor when the 
journey of their comj^anions to the West was only half accom- 
plished. Lewis Hobbs spent a year in the limits of the circuit 
Tobias Gibson had cultivated, and his style reminded the i^eople 
of their first missionary. He was a weeping prophet, a lovely 
spirit, and his brief ministry made a deep impression. Part of 
a year he labored in New Orleans, where his last strength was 
spent. He sunk into consumption and barely got back to Georgia 
to die. Drury Powell preached one year beyond the river, and 
concluded that the time had not come for those j^eople, and re- 
turned whence he came. Thomas Griffin was assigned to the 
most distant and difficult post of all — the Ouachita Circuit. 
He proved a chosen vessel of the Lord. Few have been so hon- 
ored in planting Methodism in the South-west. He lived to a 
good old age, and his memory is blessed by thousands. "While 
Nolley persuaded sinners and Hobbs Avept over them, Griffin 
made them quail and shrink, and hide their faces in fear and 
shame. There was a clear, metallic ring in his nature. Without 



KoIIeij, Hohhs, and Griffin. 



545 



the advantages of fortune or education he made his way by 
stronger forces. By the camp-fire, on the forest-path, he studied. 
One of the saddle-bags men — to whom Western civilization is 
more indebted than to any other class of agents — he mastered 
the hardy elements of frontier life. Sagacious in judgment, 
decisive in action, strong in speech, generous-hearted. Memora- 
ble awakenings and reformations of notorious and hopeless sin- 
ners occurred under his ministry. He would " get on the sin- 
ner's track," as he phrased it, and press him close, calling con- 
science to witness as he went along. His language was often 
more forcible than elegant. The presumptuous sinner was " one 
of your gospel - slighting, heaven - neglecting, God - provoking, 
devil-daring, hell- deserving rebels against the majesty of the 
universe." The drunkard, in his estimation, "was a far worse 
character than the frantic suicide who would take a pistol and 
blow out his brains, thus ridding his family of a pest, and leav- 
ing his property for their maintenance; whereas the drunkard, 
after disgracing his family with his besotted example, afflicting 
them with his drunken revels, wasting his property, breaking 
the heart of his wife, and hanging his poor, ragged, uneducated 
children on the horns of poverty, is in the end a self-murderer." 
If he had occasion to hold up the superannuated debauchee in 
order to show that the way of transgressors is hard, he would 
describe him as "the very frazzle-ends of humanity; his de- 
bauched carcass would disgrace a wolf -trap if put in it for bait." 
His scathing denunciation of vice stirred the ire and resentment 
of the wicked. They had driven off Powell, and a leader of 
roughs resolved, upon the reports that had reached him, to drive 
off Griffin. This man went to one of his appointments, listened 
to a terribly searching and courageous discourse, and after the 
service was over remarked to some one who had heard his threat 
that "Mr. Griffin improved on further acquaintance, and he reck- 
oned it was best to have a few such preachers in the country, so 
he would not interrupt him." 

In 1820 the Mississippi delegation to the General Conference 
consisted of two preachers — Thomas Griffin and John Lane. 
Griffin was not pleased at the speeches of certain Northern dele- 
gates on slavery; they assumed its sinfulness as a foregone con- 
clusion, and took ground that would have excluded Abraham 
itself from the Christian Church. The epithets they applied 
35 



546 



Historij of Methodism. 



to slaTe-liolders were by no means to his taste. Southern dele- 
gates pleased him little better — their tone was excusatory rather 
than defensive. To use his own expression, " They were too 
much like suppliants to suit my feelings." He made an off-hand 
speech which, whatever else it lacked, was not lacking in energy 
of expression. " It appears," said he, " that some of our North- 
ern brethren are willing to see us all damned and double-damned, 
rammed, jammed, and crammed into a forty-six pounder, and 
touched off into eternity." Thomas Griffin found a good wifi3 
among the daughters of John Ford, and after presiding over 
districts in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, that are now 
Annual Conferences, he met the last enemy, as. he had met all 
others— like a Christian hero. 

Nov. 1, 1813, the preachers from both sides of the river met 
at Newit Vick's to hold the first Mississippi Conference. The 
time and place had been appointed by the Bishop; but on their 
east and north-east the Creeks and Cherokees were hostile, and 
it Avas yet doubtful whether or not the Clioctaws and Chickasaws 
would join Tecumseh's league; therefore the Tennessee Confer- 
ence in October formally advised Bishop McKendree not to ad- 
venture himself upon the Natchez trace. Samuel Sellers was 
appointed president, and William Winans secretary. There 
w^ere ten members to begin with, and the session lasted four 
days. For three years they thus met and transacted business, 
sending their Minutes to Tennessee to be approved and incorpo- 
rated into the Minutes of that body. Among eight appoint- 
ments, extending from Louisiana to Alabama, we find "New 
Orleans, William Winans." There was in the treasury $39.18, 
and "130 of this amount was voted to Brother Winans to ena- 
ble him to fill the Orleans Station." Of the very few in that 
very ungodly city of fifteen thousand inhabitants who were will- 
ing to own themselves Methodists Avas a Dutchman — Jacob 
Knobb — and his wife.'^' They received the young missionary 
into their house and rented him, at a moderate price, the ground- 
floor for a school; it was also the chapel. Here William Wi- 
nans acted school-master in the week, and parson of evenings 
and Sundays. His congregations were small, and his member- 
ship did not amount to the prescriptive number for a class-meet- 

*Not only the man, but the house, deserves record. "He lived in a two-story 
brick house on Bienville, between Chartres and Eoyal streets." (J. G. Jones's MS.) 



The Church in New Oi'Ieans. 



547 



ing; but he scrupulously went through all the forms of public 
and social worship, and had some comfortable times. The fleet 
and army of Pakenham were beleaguering the city, and the ex- 
citement and alarm of war quite closed the little school and 
church on Bienville street, and he left in time to meet the Con- 
ference at John Ford's, on Pearl Kiver, Nov. 14, 1814. No nu- 
merical progress was reported, but a reconnoissance had been 
made which was not without value in the future. 

In the chapter which names Jacob Knobb let another humble 
but faithful servant of the Church in New Orleans be remem- 
bered — also a foreigner — who stood firmly by the feeble and de- 
spised cause when friends v^^ere few. Prom the St. Domingo in- 
surrection Theresa Canu escaped when a girl, and took refuge 
in Wilmington, North Carolina. There she learned Methodism, 
and thence removed to New Orleans. She lived long, bravely 
bore the reproach of Christ, opened her house to the messengers 
of her Master, and sung and shouted in the little conventicles 
where Methodism took shelter for many humble years. Theresa 
Canu was to Methodism in the Crescent City what Mrs. General 
Pussell (sister of Patrick Henry) was to it in theHolston coun- 
try and Jane Trimble in Ohio, and what Lydia had been to the 
Church at Philippi. 

New Orleans appeared on the Minutes of 1812, with Miles 
Harper as pastor. There is no record that he achieved any 
thing. Next year the dying Hobbs meditated and prayed along 
its streets, and sought out a few souls in private houses. Black- 
man, when in charge of the district which nominally included 
the city, made an occasional visit, but it is doubtful if he ever 
preached a sermon. As early as 1805 Elisha W. Bowman vainly 
searched over the place for standing-ground. The year following 
Winans's retirement martial law and the closing scenes of war 
did not increase the prospects of success. There was no fund to 
support a missionary, and other fields could be occupied to more 
advantage; so New Orleans disappears from the roll until 1819, 
when Mark Moore served it as his predecessor had done — teach- 
ing and preaching. After him came John Menefee, who subse- 
quently died of yellow fever, and is buried there ; and again a re- 
treat was beaten from the city. In 1825 a young man, a native 
of Kentucky, took charge there,* and from that time Methodism 



*He reported twenty-three Avliite members and sixty colored in 1826. 



548 



History of JlefJiodism. 



lias stood in lier lot. Xext year Benjamin M. Drake vras returned. 
A man of zeal and consecration, he took a x)lace in tke early 
history of Methodism on Lower MississijDpi only second to that 
of Winans: -svhile in the fervor of his style and the telling effect 
upon the hearts of the people of his long and laborious ministry, 
he was his superior. About the time Methodism drove down her 
stake to stay in New Orleans, Mobile took its place permanently 
in the Minutes — John E. Lambuth, missionary. Both were very 
hard places; and those who behold their strong and well-ordered 
churches of to-day cannot realize the weary toil and waiting and 
cost of life incurred before a firm footing was gained. Espe- 
cially is this true of New Orleans. "Within the life-time of a 
generation it had been under three different governments. Pto- 
manism was intrenched, vdth ail its appliances and consequences. 
There was no Sabbath. A pleasure-loving, dissolute, and heter- 
ogeneous population was divided between superstition and infi- 
delity. The entrepot for the Yalley of the Mississippi, New Or- 
leans rapidly grew from fifteen to a hundred and fifty thousand 
inhabitants, with all the concomitants of luxury and greed. Hun- 
dreds, thousands of Methodists and other professing Christians 
were swallowed up as they came within reach of that moral mael- 
strom. Fascinated, insnared by its peculiar blandishments 
of sin, they became ashamed of, and then denied, their faith. 
T\^illiam Winans was in sight when not on the spot to direct the 
little band, to encourage, and to take advantage of opportunities, 
and to rally them in time of temporary defeat; and he acted for 
some while as agent to collect funds abroad to build a church in 
the strongest stronghold of the world, the flesh, and the devil 
that existed on the continent during the first thirty years of the 
present century. If his success was not complete, he at least 
put the struggling cause in position where others, under more 
favorable circumstances, could achieve such success.^ 

Elsewhere in the Talley of the Mississippi the itinerant 

^The minister is yet living, and trust the day is far off when his name can 
be more freely si^oken to, whose pulpit and pastoral fidelity, and administrative 
power, crowned the work which others began. The systematic and comprehensive 
plans laid and carried out by Eev. John Christian Keener, D.D. (noAV Bishop), 
date the epoch of the present Xew Orleans Methodism. Pie was appointed by 
Bishop Paine pastor of Poydras Street Church in 1848, met the yellow fever and 
outlived it in 1849, and has since resided in the city, a Avitness, and under God 
the chief director, of the prosperous condition of its Metliodism. 



Difficulties of Methodism in Louisiana. 



549 



preacher sowed the seed of the gospel in virgin soil; but in Lou- 
isiana tares had been long and plentifully scattered and culti- 
vated. If the occupation of the chief city was delayed and often 
defeated, and finally achieved at the cost of great labor and suf- 
fering patience, the same is equally true of the country. Attaka- 
pas, Opelousas, and Ouachita, early appear on the roll of ap- 
pointments. In our ecclesiastical geography Attakapas stands 
for the southern region of the State, with its numerous baj^s, 
which are fed by bayous navigable for a short distance; with 
ocean-like prairies, where cattle is wealth; with lands deep and 
moist enough to grow sugar-cane; shaded with live-oak, and 
fanned by gulf breezes, and animated by myriads of alligators and 
mosquitoes. There are settlements and villages named after 
every saint in the calendar, and dating back to the French and 
Spanish occupation of a past century, with here and there an 
English-speaking or American family. Opelousas is a wide, un- 
defined region, similar in character, lying above Attakapas, and 
reaching to Red River; and all above the river is Ouachita. A 
region farther up Eed Eiver, and representing the Western limit, 
is called Rapides. These names figure on the Conference map 
for a quarter of a century, and represent more heroism in itiner- 
ant history than any other section of the Church. 

As early as 1805 Bishop Asbury sent a missionary to Lou- 
isiana, with directions to begin at New Orleans; and the Old 
Western Conference raised for his outfit and expenses one hun- 
dred dollars. For such a venture he picked a young Kentuckian, 
who had seen service in the North-western Territory as well as 
at home, and was consecrated, courageous, and knew how to 
make his way. Elisha W. Bowman traveled the usual route 
through the wilderness to Natchez and, taking leave of tlir.t 
Methodist outpost, continued down the left bank of the river. 
A letter of his may give some idea of the situation : 

From Baton Eouge, tlie Spanisli garrison on the east bank of the Mississippi 
Eiver, down two hundred miles, it is settled immediately oil each bank by French 
and Spaniards. The land is dry on each side about forty and in some places fifty 
rods wide, and then a cypress SAvamp extends each way to the lakes, and will never 
admit of any settlements until you cross the lakes to the east and west. AVhen I 
reached the city I was much disappointed in finding but few American people 
there, and a majo/ity of that few may truly be called the beasts of men. Mr. 

='= Pronounced At-tuck-a-paw; Ten?a!=, Tea-saw; Ouachita, Wash-i-{a\v. 



550 



History of Metliodism. 



AVatson, the gentlemrai to v;liom I was recommended by Mr. Asbury, bad left the 
city early in the fall and gone home to Philadelphia.^ 

The missionary went to the Goyernor and told him his busi- 
ness, and was promised protection, and the capitol to preach in. 
The appointment was j^nblished, but when he came on Sunday 
he found the doors locked. To a few sailors and Creoles who 
stood about he preached in the open air. The Governor and 
Mayor, when informed of his treatment, promised to issue an 
order to put the house at his service on next Sunday; but when 
Bowman and his landlord and a few others arrived, they found 
it locked as before. He was among a new set of people, who 
politely promise in his presence, shrug their shoulders as he 
leaves, and refuse in the end. Not to be balked, a second ser- 
mon was delivered to ten or a dozen hearers outdoors; and the 
next Sunday also, to a few stragglers in the street. He vv'rites: 

The Lord's-day is the day of general rant in this city: public balls are held, 
merchandise of every kind is carried on, public sales, Avagons running, and drunks 
beating; and thus is the Sabbath spent. I sought in vain for a house to preach 
in. Several persons offered to rent me a house, but I have not money to rent a 
house. My expenses I found to be about two dollars a day for myself and horse, 
and my money pretty well spent. I tried to sell my horse, but could not get forty 
dollars for him. Thus I was in this difficult situation, without a friend to advise 
me. I was three hundred miles from Brother Blackman, and could get no advice 
from him; and what to do I did not know. I could have no access to the pieople, 
and to go back to Katchez is to do nothing; and to leave my station without Mr. 
Asbury's direction was like death to me; and to stay here I could do nothing. 
But by inquiring I heard of a settlement of American jDCople about two hundred 
miles to the west and north-west. By getting a small boat and crossing the lakes 
I could reach the Opelousas country; and as I was left to think by myself, I 
thought this most advisable. I accordingly, on the 17th day of December, slioolc 
off the dirt from my feet against this ungodly city of Orleans, and resolved to try 
the watery waste and pathless desert. 

Riding up the vv^est bank of the river to Plaquemine, BovN'man 
took to the lakes and lagoons. On two canoes he built a plat- 
form for his horse and, hiring two Spaniards to help row, he 
crossed "four lakes and a large bay," and reached firm ground, 
where Avere a few American families, "who came here in the 
time of the war, for no good deeds that they had done." "I 
have now," he says, "three dollars left, but God is as able to 

This letter v>'as found among the papers of Eev. AVilliam Burke, to whom it 
was addressed at Lexington, Kentucky. It is dated Opelousas, Jan. 29, 1806, and 
Avas first publislied in the Xew Orleans Christian Advocate, in 1857. 



Bowman Makes a Beginning. 



551 



feed me two years on three dollars as lie was to feed Elijah at the 
brook, or five thousand with a few loaves and fishes." Eighty 
miles farther on he found " some American families, but no two 
of them together: " 

The next day I reached the Opelousas country, and the next I reached the Cath- 
olic church. I was surprised to see a pair of race paths at the church door. Here 
I found a few Americans who were swearing with almost every breath ; and when 
I reproved tliem for swearing they told me that the priest SAVore as hard as they 
did. They said he would play cards and dance with them every Sunday evening 
after mass. And, strange to tell, he keeps a race-horse! in a word, practices ev- 
ery abomination. I told tliem plainly if they did not quit swearing they and 
their priest would go to hell together. 

About twenty miles from this place 1 found a settlement of American people 
who came to this country about the time of the American war. They know very 
little more about the nature of salvation than the untaught Indians. Some of 
them, after I had preached to them, asked me what I meant by the fall of man, 
and when it was that he fell. I have to teach them to sing, and in fact do every 
thing that is like worshiping God. I find it also very ditficult to get them to at- 
tend meetings; for,' if they come once they think they have done me a very great 
favor. 

About thirty miles from here I found another small settlement of English peo- 
ple, who were in as great a state of ignorance as the above; but I get as many of 
them togetlier as I can, and preach Jesus Christ to them. O my God! have mercy 
on the souls of this people! 

He passed on to the Red Eiver settlements, and thence east- 
vrardly to the Catahoola, opposite Natchez, separated by a swamp 
sixty miles in extent. "A forlorn Methodist" was met with now 
and then, as Bowman ranged and preached. The conclusion of 
his letter to Burke, his father in the gospel, is characteristic: 

Many days that I travel I have to swim through creeks or swamps. I tie 
all my plunder fast on my horse, and take him by the bridle, and swim some- 
times a hundred yards. My horse's legs are now skinned and rough to his 
hock joints, and I have the rheumatism in all my joints; but this is nothing. 
About eighty miles from here, I am informed, there is a considerable settlement 
of American people, but I cannot get to them at this time, as the swamps are 
swimming for miles; but as soon as the waters fall I intend to visit them. 

I have now given you a faint idea of my travels, the country, and the people. 
Let me now tell you how it is with my soul. What I have sufiered in body and 
mind my pen is not able to communicate to you. But this I can say: while my 
body is wet with Avater and chilled with cold, my soul is filled with heavenly fire, 
and longs to be witli Christ. And while these periods drop from my pen my soul 
is ready to leave this earthly house and fly to endless rest. Glory to God and the 
Lamb! I can say that I never enjoyed such a power and heaven of love as I 
have done for a fcAV days past. I have not a wish Init that the will of God may 
be done in me, through me, and by me. And I Cim now say with St. Paul that 



552 Hisfonj of Methodism. 

"I count not my life dear unto me, so that I may save some." I feel my soul all 
alive to God, and filled Avitli love to all the human family. I am novr more than 
one thousand miles from you, and know not that I ever shall see you again, but I 
hope to meet you one day on the banks of Canaan, in the land of rest. 

The P. S. adds: "Pardon my scratch, as I have to write on 
my knee, and a man is waiting at my elbow for these lines. Pray 
for me." Making allowance for dates, does not that "scratch," 
mHtten on the knee, read like a chapter in the Acts of the Apos- 
tles? How could such a man fail? Yriiether the three dollars 
held out or not, so it was, he staid out his time, and reported 
seyenteen members to Conference. Blackman cheered him with 
a yisit during the year and with such yigorous help as he could 
giye a fellow-laborer; and so a beginning was made. 

Xext year Bowman was appointed to Ouachita. Seyeral Meth- 
odist families had moyed into that region from the old Natchez 
Circuit, and though his trayels were not diminished, his ward- 
robe was recruited and his soul refreshed with x^vecious seasons 
of Christian fellowship. 

On the Attakapas and Opelousas he was followed by Thomas 
N. Lasley, who was conyerted in the reyival of 1800, and became 
one of the heroes of the next half-century of Methodist history 
in the Mississippi Yallej^ The field has been suryeyed: it is 
time to "form a circuit;" and the reader may see how that is 
done, from Lasley's narratiye : 

The nest morning I crossed the great Mississippi at sunrise, landing about one 
mile below the mouth of Eed liivcr. Having now before me about forty-five 
miles to the first settlement, and about thirty-five through a swamp, wliich fortu- 
nately Avas dry, late in tlie evening I readied tlie house of a prominent settler on 
the island — a settlement of high land thickly populated. Mr. Baker having heard 
of my coming, bid me a hearty Avelcome, and although in a state of intoxication, 
treated me with civility, while his family strove to make me liappy. It being ar- 
ranged that I Avas to preach the following Sabbath, messengers were dispatched to 
notify the settlers, and I endeavored to j^reacli in the true spirit of my mission. In 
this my first efibrt in my new field, the poAver of God Avas felt in the congregation. 
I made an appointment to preach again at candle-lighting, at another house close 
by, at the request of the family. Here I met a serious congregation. Many wept 
bitterly on account of their sins, and I was enabled to rejoice that I had not labored 
in vain. Before dismission I announced to them that I AA'ould meet them again in 
three AA-eeks, and promised to spend some time Avith them. Early on Monday morn- 
ing I left for the next settlement, a distance of forty-five miles, and twenty-five of this 
through a swamp. Accompanied by a young man as a pilot, Ave journeyed to- 
gether six or eight miles, his object being to put me on the riglit trail through 
the swamp. This done, we parted. Coming to a slough in which the mud ap- 



Lasleij Forming a New Circuit. 



553 



peared very deep I dreaded to pass, but seeing no vray of avoiding, plunged into 
it, and my horse sinking under me was unable to extricate himself from the mud. 
1 alighted, and took my saddle-bags on my arm. My horse, thus unencumbered, 
made a powerful struggle and released liimself, and soon gained the opposite side. 
Thankful to Providence for the difficulty overcome, I arrived at a deejo, muddy 
creek, which I supposed to be about sixty or seventy feet wide, where, ever and 
anon, the alligators rising to the surface of the v,-ater rendered the prospect 
gloomy. Summoning all the fortitude I possessed, and committing myself to the 
care of God, I fastened my saddle-bags to my shoulder and plunged into the 
stream. Reaching the opposite shore, I found the bank steep, and that my horse 
could not rise with me. I sprung from him and gained the bank, which my horse 
endeavoring to ascend his hind feet sunk in the mud and he fell back into the 
water. Eecovering again, he made tlie second effort, at which time I threw my 
weight on the bridle and he reached the bank, pitching forward and falling with 
one of his fore legs doubled under him in such a manner as to cripple himself. 
Not being able to put his foot to the ground by several inches, I was apprehensive 
that lie had slipped his shoulder, and of course would not be able to travel from 
that place. My condition was the subject of reflection, while the poor animal 
stood trembling under the agony of pain. For a few moments I almost despaired, 
but throwing myself on my knees before God, I committed my cause into his 
hands, and prayed most earnestly that he would heal my horse. Feeling within 
myself that he had heard my prayer, I arose from my knees and found my horse 
perfectly sound, and immediately recommenced my journey, rejoicing in the Lord. 
As tlie shades of night closed upon me I found myself in the most extensive prai- 
rie I had ever seen ; but tlie beautiful queen of night soon made her appearance 
above the waving grass, and uprising into the heavens reflected her borrowed 
glories on my pathway until I arrived at a habitation, where I was admitted to 
a shelter. I endeavored to sow the good seed, trusting God for tlie increase, and 
left an appointment for my return. On the day following I reached Hayes's set- 
tlement, the most interesting part of Opelousas, and met with a Brother Foreman 
and wife, m.embers of our Church, wlio received me joyfully. I held a meeting, 
and leaving a Sabbath appointment with them, I started for the Eed River set- 
tlements, having a wilderness before me of sixty-five miles. I had to rest in the 
forest alone for the night, but my God was there and I had nothing to fear. Al- 
exandria, on the banks of Red River, was the next point in which I unfurled the 
banner of the cross. For many miles around this town is the most fertile coun- 
try I ever saw, and some parts of it are thickly settled with a mixed population 
of French, Spaniards, and Americans. Ascending the bayou, I made an appoint- 
ment at a Mr. Griffin's, where I was ultimately enabled to form a class. My next 
point was the Catahoola settlements. Here I established two appointments — one 
at Brother Wiggins's, and the other at Brother Bowie's, whose wife I found to be 
one of the excellent of the earth. I am sorry that their son is the inventor of 
that most dreadful weapon called the Bowie-knife. With this young man I was 
then acquainted — at that time a civil young man. 

Having tluis laid out my field of labor, upward of three hundred miles in cir- 
cumference, I returned to the island, where I found an anxiously inquiring peo- 
ple. I remained three days with them, preaching both night and day, and I hope 
not in vain. I was enabled to form a small class at this place. During tliis visit 



554 



Historif of Metliodism. 



to the island I received a message from Judge Dawson, requesting me to call r.pon 
him. I repaired to his residence, about thirty miles distant, and met with a warm 
reception. His first business was to assure me of his protection and assistance to 
forward my designs in the amelioration of the condition of the wretched sons and 
daughters of Adam. He laid before me the inefficiency and want of law, espe- 
cially the importance of guarding against the unhallowed concubinage almost 
everywhere existing in his district. We petitioned the Legislature on this sub- 
ject, praying for action, which met with success, and thus gained one more step 
toward civilization. 

Having concluded my business with the Judge, I made for Opelousas, filling 
my appointments at several places by the way. At Hayes's settlement I met an 
interesting congregation, to whom I preached, read our rules, and exhorted them 
with many words to " flee from the wrath to come." After preaching several times, 
both night and day, I left for the Ked Kiver section of my work. Here I found 
an attentive people, and was somewhat encouraged. My next prominent point 
was the Catahoola settlement. I was enabled to form small classes at Brotliers 
Wiggins and Bowie's. From this I returned to the island, and found t]ie society 
in a good spiritual condition, some two or three having found peace with God. 
Having now my Avork before me, my soul was in it, and I was constantly engaged ; 
and, I thank God, I had the pleasure of seeing a goodly number hajDpily converted.""" 

That mystery of the itinerancy — "forming a circuit" — is now 
before the reader, and he has made one "ronnd" with the 
preacher, after the metes and bounds have been determined. 
The germs of churches and congregations have been planted, 
and they will grow. In time we shall see a log meeting- 
house, then a frame building follows, and then it may be a sub- 
stantial brick. The large circuit will be divided and subdivided 
as population and membership increase; and Lasley's three 
weeks' circuit becomes a district, composed of a dozen or more 
circuits. Thus the cause extends. 

With empty purses and well-worn apparel the two missionaries 
were relieved at the end of this year. The circuit about Clarks- 
ville, Tennessee, was grateful to the jaded Lasley; there he had 
a happy and successful time, and was ready for another mis- 
sionary movement on the Ohio River at the next Conference. 
He finished his course with joy in 1857.f Bowman rejoiced in 
the blue-grass and big meetings of Kentucky once more. 

* Letter of the Eev. Thomas Lasley, in the Western Christian Advocate, August 
7, 1840. 

IHis grave is at McMinnville, Tennessee, where the veteran died on a visit 
to one of his children. Speaking of his end, and why he should die at that 
place, he said: "God will have it so, that these peoj)le may see how an old Meth- 
odist preacher can die." 



Axleij and His Song. 



555 



Who next shall try hard, unyielding Louisiana? Bishop As- 
bury selects a man who has seen rough service. Heavy-browed, 
stout and broad-shouldered; witty and wise, and self-reliant; plain 
in dress, simple in wants, and zealous ; tough in muscle and tender 
in heart — such was 'James Axley. He built the first meeting- 
house on the circuit, and his own hands hewed some of the logs 
of what was known as Axley's Chapel. He needed clothes, and 
his old friends sent him some money to buy them, but he sjoent 
it for fiooring-plank. He wept afterward, talking of his trials. 

One evening, after riding all day without dinner, he called at 
a house where the family consisted of a widow lady, a grown-up 
daughter, a number of children, and some servants, none of 
whom were religious. The lady and her family would not grant 
his request to remain overnight. No, he could not stay; they 
would have no such cattle about them. But he was loath to leave, 
for if defeated in obtaining lodging there, nothing remained for 
him but a berth in the woods, without food or shelter, in an in- 
clement season of the year. As he lingered a little to w^arm him- 
self and consider how he should manage to pass the night, the 
thought of his forlorn condition as a homeless stranger, without 
money or friends, came like a dark cloud over his mind. His sad 
cogitations proceeded in silence. Then, as was natural in the ex- 
tremity, he turned his thoughts toward his Heavenly Father's 
house above, where he hoped some day to find a home free from 
the ills of mortal life. Being a little cheered with the prospect, 
without leave, introduction, or ceremony, he began to sing one 
of the songs of Zion in a strange land: 

''Peace, troubled soul, thou need'st not fear; 
Thy great Provider still is near. 
Who fed thee last can feed thee still ; 
Be calm, and sink into his will." 

As he proceeded his depressed feelings became elevated; the 
vision of faith ranged above and beyond the desolate wilderness 
he had just been contemplating as the place of his night's so- 
journ. The family were melted into tears; the lady called a 
servant, and ordered him to put the gentleman's horse into the 
stable, and the daughter added, " Be sure you feed him well." 

Axley was willing to leave at the end of one year, and was 
soon riding wide districts on the Wabash and the Nollichuckee. 
Next came John Henninger, practical, faithful, and fervent, and 



556 



Histonj of Methodism. 



everywhere else successful; then the amiable John S. Ford; but 
they are soon found in Tennessee and Carolina again. The 
visits of Harper and of the inspiring Sellers must have been 
helpful; but at the end of 1813 all the Methodism in Louisiana 
v\'as represented by eighty-nine white members and ten colored/''' 

The two missionaries on the Tombigbee are swung round from 
the extreme eastern to the extreme vrestern boundaries of the 
Conference.f Nolley is sent to Attahapas and Shrock to Ea- 
pides. As the custom was, Nolley had appointments sent be- 
fore him. The people, hungry for the word, assembled at a 
house where preaching v^as to be, and waited long; but the be- 
lated parson did not arrive until the congregation had despaired 
of his coming and, in the free-and-easy hospitality of the 
frontier, had gone to bed — pallets and mattresses and bear-skins 
covered the floor, and the heads only of his congregation were in 
sight. He stood before the fire, took his text, and preached to 
them. " Who knows," said he, " but some word may take effect ? " 

These tY»'o preachers held all of Louisiana this year that was 
occupied by Methodism. NoUey's saintly bearing and pasto- 
ral fidelity gained ground with the people, but could not tame 
the ruffian spirit. A sugar-planter once drove him away from 
his smoke-stack, where he craved to warm himself. Sons of Be- 
lial took him out of the pulpit at St. Martinsville, and vvere on 
their way to the bayou to duck him, when a strange Deborah 
was raised up: a stout negro woman armed with a hoe vigor- 
ously assailed them, and rescued the preacher out of their hands. 
Shrock, who in youth had been a blacksmith, x^iii'su-ed a defi- 
ant policy. An accident, or incident, befell certain lewd fellows 
who were known as brave disturbers of religious services. On 
the outskirts of Alexandria, they were teazing the inmates of 
a house — a couple of women not of the best character — vdio 
were honestly engaged at the time boiling soap. A gourdful 
of the scalding liquid left its mark upon a face or two, and the 
gallants became the jest of the village. Shrock was preach- 
ing afterward at the court-house, and the set appeared at the 
window, making grimaces and noises. He turned on them with 
the rebuke that if they did not mend their ways they were in 
danger of something hotter than boiling soap. The hit was 

*Thns distributed — Attakapas, 65 -white, lOcoloreci; Onacliita, 12 vrliite; Ea- 
pides, 12 white. fThey report 197 white members, and 54 colored in Alabama. 



Shrock on the Defensive. 



557 



palpable; and tliey and their allies sent him word that on his 
return he should be ducked in the river. Shrock's few^ friends 
were concerned for his safety, and desired him to miss the next 
appointment. But he let it be knov/n that. Providence permit- 
ting, he Avould be on hand when the time came; and he was — and 
a large crowd also. Moving straight to the Judge's seat, which 
served for a pulpit, he conducted a brief religious service, watch- 
ing as well as praying. At the place where "notices" usually 
come in he called attention to the state of affairs; opened his 
sleeve and rolled it back, showing an arm of fearful muscular 
power. "Look at that,'' said he; "do you think my Master gave 
me such ,a means of defense for nothing?" He concluded by 
informing all concerned that he did not feel it to be his duty to 
submit to the shameful treatment Nolley had received at St. 
Martinsville. He gave out his next appointment, and added, 
" he understood the use of the court-house would probably be 
denied him thereafter; and if it was, that large cottonv/ood-tree 
on the commons, near the bank of the river, would answer his 
purpose, and he would preach there." Taking up his saddle- 
bags and coat, he passed out. When near his horse he heard 
his name called, and turning round saw a man approaching him 
at a quick step. "Do you come as a friend or foe?" inquired 
the short, stout-built preacher, squaring himself. "I am your 
friend, Mr. Shrock," replied the man, and taking him cordially 
by the hand, continued: "I come to invite you to dine with me 
to-day, and hereafter to make my house your home in Alexandria. 
You are the very man we need here to manage these cowardly 
disturbers of our place of worship." 

This citizen disclosed a view of the defect of Christian civ- 
ilization then and there prevailing, and the heavy grade to be 
everywhere overcome by pioneer preachers. According to this 
view a disturbance of public worship is not an offense against the 
congregation, but against the preacher only. It is his business 
not only to preach to the people a free gospel, but to maintain the 
conditions for their hearing it. 

The reports made at the Conference on Pearl Eiver in 1814-15 
were meager. The people who were not in the armies were sore- 
ly pressed by the embargo. There was a dearth of hymn-books, 
and the Conference authorized its President to make a selection 
of hymns, and publish the same in pamphlet form. "Sellers's 



558 



History of Methodism. 



Selections of Hymns and Spiritual Songs" was soon in every 
clmrch and household. There were elections to orders, but no 
ordinations; and Thomas Griffin acted as presiding elder one 
year before he was an elder.'-^' These and other w^ar measures 
indicate the straits of the Methodists in the South-west, cut 
off from all communication, commercial and ecclesiastical, with 
their brethren and the rest of the wmld. 

From the Conference Richmond NoUey was sent back to Atta- 
kapas — the membership had been increased by one-third the 
year before, and his return was desired. Thomas Griffin was as- 
signed to Ouachita. Together they crossed the river, and traveled 
through the SAvamp. Then they parted with embraces and tears 
- — Griffin going northward, and Nolley bending in the other direc- 
tion. On the afternoon of November 25th, a cold and rainy day, he 
came to a fitful, swollen stream. From a village of Indians near 
the creek he procured a guide and proceeded to the ford, and 
leaving his valise and saddle-bags attempted to ride it. The 
current bore his horse dowai; the banks Avere steep and he could 
not get out. In the struggle he and his horse parted. He got 
hold of a bush and pulled himself out; his horse swam back to 
the shore from which they started. Directing the Indian to keep 
his horse till morning, and to bring him over with his baggage, 
he started for the nearest habitation, about two miles distant. 

He had gone but a little way when the angels met him. With 
sweet surprise, Nolley found himself in the land of Beulah, 
though in a dreary swamp of Louisiana. Beholding the "shin- 
ing ones," he doubtless exclaimed with him of old, '* This is God's 
host ! " Fancy must supply what history fails to record, for there 
were none present save those from the sky. It was Friday, his 
fast-day. Chilled and exhausted — the cold and darkness every 
moment becoming intenser — he sunk down about three-fourths 
of a mile from the ford. He seemed conscious of his approach- 
ing end. The prints of his knees were in the ground, showing 
what his last exercise had been. Having commended his soul to 
God, with what sense of the nearness of heaven it may be sup- 
posed, he had laid him down at the roots of a clump of pines. 
The itinerant preacher received his discharge. There he lay on 

■^The historian wliose authority is best on the transactions of these years says: 
"Tlie appointment was made with the understanding that he was not to adminis- 
ter the Lord's Supper." (J. G. Jones's MS.) 



Richmond NoIIei/ — His Death. 



559 



the cold ground and wet leaves, at full length, his eyes neatly 
closed, his left-hand on his breast and his right a little fallen 
off. The solitary spot and the gloomy surroundings were not in- 
compatible with finishing his course with joy. Next day, the 
high water having fallen, the Indian crossed over and found on 
the road-side first the heavy over-coat that had been laid off, 
and next the corpse. It was taken to the house he was trying to 
reach, and the neighbors gathered to the burial on Sunday. 
Slowly the news reached the circuit and spread among the peo- 
ple. The effect was profound and conciliating. 

Richmond Nolley was only thirty years old at his death, and had 
been preaching seven years. He kept his body under, perhaps 
to excess — not allowing it sufiicient rest and food for the best 
working conditions. Every morning he was up at four o'clock — - 
at prayer, at reading, at work. His emaciated frame offered ex- 
cuses for relaxation, vWiich he refused to accept. One said, 
"Your health must be very bad." "It is natural for me to look 
so," he replied; "on the contrary, I have the best of health." 
His manner seemed to say, "The Lord is at hand," "the Judge 
standeth at the door." Constitutional feebleness was upborne 
by a heavenly zeal. 

It is not claimed that he was strong, or learned, or eloquent. 
He was not. Moral power is not in proportion to mental vigor; 
its elements lie above and beyond. What avails the clear and 
cold statement of truth — even divine truth — if it touch not the 
heart nor move the man? It is the evident sincerity, the home 
appeal, the word commended to the conscience of the lieirer, the 
peroration all quivering with feeling, the unction, that constitutes 
the preacher's power. The soldier may have wisdom, but if he 
lack courage he is totally out of character. Neither can the 
counselor's courage stand him in the place of wisdom. What- 
ever the preacher may or may not be, without this one quality 
of moral power he is nothing. This had Nolley. 

In the winter of 1815 Bishop McKendree sent John Lane and 
Ashley Hewit, from the Conference at Charleston, to the West. 
Passing by the scene of the Fort Mims massacre and many a 
charred cabin in the latter end of their journey, they crossed the 
Alabama River at Fort Claiborne. On the Tensas Hewit's circuit 
began, but his companion had yet three hundred miles to go. Lane 
was gentle and noble in form and spirit; so was his ministry in 



560 



History of Metliodism. 



tlie Lord for half a century. Marrying one of the daughters of 
Newit Yick, he passed his middle and old age in Vicksburg, 
graced ^vith Christian labor and hospitality. Hev/it spent the 
rest of his life mainly in Louisiana, and made m^any rich though 
he died poor. 

The Conference of 1816 met at Pine Eidge, near Natchez. In 
an ujjper room of William Foster's double log-house the ses- 
sions were held. Its eight members included Elijah Gentry, 
Peter James, and Tommie Owens — home products. Despairing 
of the promised episcopal visitation, they were proceeding with 
business, when on Friday a horseman, slow and weary, rode up. 
Bishop Koberts never had a heartier greeting. He was in time 
to close up. On Saturday, when the list of elders elect was un- 
der consideration, Shrock w^as called before the Conference to 
give account of the Alexandria affair. If the exaggerated reports 
were true, his election might be canceled for unministerial con- 
duct. He rehearsed the matter, in order, and Avas passed; but 
the Bishop thought he saw a little of the old Adam in his self- 
gratulatory spirit, and said, "Put up thy sword, Peter!" The 
tone and manner of the rebuke were long remembered by those 
present as most effective, and Shrock himself confessed to an in- 
stant and sensible shrinkage. On Sunday he held his first ordi- 
nation. A multitude had come from a distance and, according 
to the manner of those times, there was an unbroken service of 
several hours' duration. Ex-president Sellers preached the 
opening sermon (Col. i. 28), and the deacons elect, who had been 
accumulating for three years, were ordained. The Bishop as- 
cended the stand and preached (Jer. ix. 23,24); and then, as- 
sisted by Sellers and He wit, ordained to the order of elders 
Thomas Nixon, William Winans, and John Shrock.'" "The 
whole scene," says our local chronicler, " the first ever witnessed 
in Mississippi, was solemn and full of encouragement as to the 
future of the Church in this detached portion of the vineyard." 

The membership had been decreasing for two years. At this 
date it was 1,706 white members, 540 colored.f Now the pros- 
pect widens. Cut off from help heretofore, they are henceforth 

'^Thomas Griffin and John S. Ford had met Bishop Asbury at Bethlehem, 
Tennessee, the year before, and received elder's orders. The latter did not return. 

t Distributed as follows: Mississippi, 1,289 whites, 402 colored; Alabama, 287 
whites, 96 colored; Louisiana, 130 whites, 32 colored. 



Alabama and Louisiana Conferences. 



561 



brouglit into Coniiectional sympathy. Bisliop Roberts not only 
strengthened them by his labors and coansel, and by looking ont 
places to which he at once transferred them from the older Con- 
ferences, but he brought them $200 as their annual dividend 
from the profit of the Book Concern, and $130 from the Charter 
Fund; whereas the whole of their Conference collection for the 
relief of the traveling preachers who had not got their disci- 
plinary allowance was $69. What a relief was this! Hewit 
had received $60 for his year's work in the Tombigbee, and 
Owens had served Rapides for only $39. Peter James had been 
on Nolley's last circuit, and received $41 ; but out of the " Con- 
ference Fund " they were able to pay him $59. Every man had 
fallen short, more or less, of his salary; but it was made up to 
the round, full one hundked. Besides, two orphan children got 
$48 — and lo, they had a surplus of $100, which they sent to their 
more needy brethren of the Missouri Conference, to help them 
out. They adjourned to meet in 1817, at Midway, when Bishop 
McKendree was with them. This year the western half of Mis- 
sissippi was admitted as a State into the Union, and the eastern 
half set off as Alabama Territory. Louisiana had been admitted 
in 1812; a pretty large Conference — two States and a Territory. 

In 1824 the Conference met in Tuscaloosa, and such appoint- 
ments as Cahav/ba, Conecuh, and Marion indicate that the space 
between the Georgia and the Alabama frontiers is lessening. Eb- 
enezer Hearn, from the cedar-brakes of Tennessee, is in position 
on a field which forms one of the fairest portions of the Church, 
and with the development of which his name is so Avorthily as- 
sociated. First and last, as presiding elder or circuit preacher, 
he covered the whole ground from Attakapas to Chattahooche. 
With him are Levert, Abernathy, Clinton, Burpo, Dickinson, 
Pierson, Pipkin, and Patton. That courtly man, John C. Bur- 
russ, gave some years to Alabama; and so did Alexander Sale. 
By 1832 Alabama took its place among the Conferences; and in 
1860 had on its roll 237 traveling preachers, over 46,000 white 
inembers, and 27,800 colored. As for Louisiana, at one time it 
was suggested in the Bishop's Council that it might be best to 
withdraw the preachers and appropriate their labors to a more 
promising field; and the subject was gravely discussed. Hewit 
interceded. "Was it sound policy," said he, "to lose what little 
36 



562 



History of Methodism. 



liad been gained by so much privation and toil? What would 
become of those few sheep in the wilderness?" The conclusion 
was to appropriate two preachers to that field, and the appoint- 
ments for 1818 stand thus: Louisiana District, Ashley Hewit, 
presiding elder; Attakapas, Thomas Nixon; Ouachita, Ashley 
Hewit. It was tiro preachers for years. 

Hewit and one more bravely held the ground until help came. 
By conversion and imDiigration godly laymen and local x)reachers 
were gradually added; fresh and vigorous itinerants were thrown 
in; prospects brightened; in 1846 the Louisiana Conference was 
organized in the town of Oi^elousas; and in 1860 it had six dis- 
tricts, 89 traveling preachers, 10,222 white members, and 7,489 
colored. Of this membership New Orleans reported 1,382 white 
and 1,937 colored; and Louisiana stood at the front in ministe- 
rial support and missionary offerings. 

The mother Conference, having set off two others, in 1860 
numbered 142 traveling preachers, and over 20,000 white mem- 
bers and 17,000 colored. And thus was Methodism planted in 
the South-west. In less than fifty years from the day Tobias 
Gibson landed at Natchez from his canoe, it had spread east and 
west, and down to the Gulf coast, and had entered the neigh- 
boring Eepublic of Texas — furnished with church-buildings, 
schools and colleges, and periodical literature ; served by an able 
ministry, and wielding over all that land a social power and a 
religious influence unequaled by any other Church. 



CHAPTER XXXVIIL 



Missionary and Tract Societies Formed — African Clmrclies Organized — Education 
_ — Joshua Soule Resigns an Election — Constitutional Questions — McKendree's 
Position — Methodist Protestants — Soule and Hedding Elected Bishops — Ca- 
pers, Emorv, AVaugli, Bangs, Bascom, Fisk — Canada Methodism set off. 

THE polity of Methodism engaged much attention from the 
General Conference of 1816 to that of 1828. Within this 
period may be dated the settlement of questions and the estab- 
lishment of institutions that are important in the Church's his- 
tory. A " Tract Society " was organized in 1817, in New York, by 
some creative minds, having opportunity for mutual cooperation, 
to aid in circulating cheap religious publications. It was closely 
identified with the Book Concern, which printed and circulated 
its issues, and at first kept its accounts without any other agency. 
This was in line with Wesley's policy of clieap and Avholesome 
reading for the people — itinerant preaching by the press. 

An effort to assist the Rev. Mark Moore in establishing the 
Church at New Orleans suggested to Joshua Soule, Nathan Bangs, 
Laban Clark, and Freeborn Garrettson the great movement of 
the period — the formation of a Missionary Society. The cry 
for help came up from other quarters also— the North-western 
fields and the newly-begun Indian Missions. Under special ap- 
peals from the Bishops, collections had been made for individ- 
ual and local wants. Bishop Asbury had carried around a 
"mite subscription" for years, to raise money for the preachers 
who were distressed in their circumstances, traveling on fron- 
tier settlements and performing purely missionary work; and 
his last act, in his dying-chamber, was to request that the "mite 
subscription should be presented," but he was told that no stran- 
gers were present. Why not organize for help in general, and 
for a systematic collection and distribution? The labors of 
Methodists had been so largely missionary in their character 
that little had been thought of missions as understood by others. 
But now the societies at the centers were strong and the subject 
began to attract attention, and they organized a Missionary and 
Bible Society in the city of New York in 1819. This dual char- 
acter was maintained for seventeen years, when the Bible depart- 

(563) 



564 



Hisfori/ of McthodisuL 



meiit Oi tlie society was eliminated in view of cooperating with 
the xlmerican Bible Society. 

An interesting history is that of two large secessions of ne- 
gro members which proyecl successful. The first occurred in 
Philadelphia, resulting in the "African Methodist Episcopal 
Church in the United States of America." The Preface to their 
Discipline, signed by their six bishops, says : 

In November, 1787, the colored people belonging to the Methodist Society cf 
Philadelphia convened together in order to take into consideration the evils un- 
der which tliey labored, arising from the unkind treatment of their white breth- 
ren, who considered them a nuisance in the house of worship, and even pulled 
tliem off their knees, while in the act of prayer, and ordered them to the back 
seats. For these, and various other acts of unchristian conduct, they considered 
it their duty to devise a plan in order to build a house of tlieir own, to worship 
God under their own vine and lig-tree. In this undertaking they jnet with great 
opposition from an elder of the Methodist Cliurch (J. McC.^, wlio tlireatened tliat 
if they did not give up the building, erase tlieir names from the subscrjptioij 
paper, and make acknowledgments for having attempted such a thing, in three 
months they should all be publicly expelled from the Methodist Society. Not 
considering themselves bound to obey tliis injunction, and being fully satisfied tliat 
they should be treated without mercy, they sent in their resignations. 

Being now as outcasts, they liad to seek for friends where they could, and the 
Lord put it into the hearts of Dr. Benjamin Eush, Mr. E, Ealston, and other re- 
spectable citizens, to interpose for them, both by advice and assistance, in getting 
their building finished. Bishop White also aided them, and ordained one from 
among themselves, after the order of the Protestant Episcopal Church, to be their 
pastor.^' 

Legal difficulties were raised as to the control of tlieir house 
and the government and revenues of the congregation. Bishop 
White failed to capture them, if he had any such proselyting 
design, and another turn was given to affairs: 

In 1793 the number of the serious people of color having increased, they were 
of ditferent opinions respecting the mode of religious worship, and, as many felt 
a strong partiality for that adopted by the Methodists, Eichard Allen, with the 
advice of some of his brethren, proposed erecting a place of worship on his own 
ground, and at his own exjDcnse, as an African Methodist meeting-house. As 
soon as the preachers of the Methodist Church in Philadehihia came to a knowl- 
edge of this they opposed it with all their miglit, insisting that the house sliould 
be made over to the Conference or they would publish them in the newspapers as 
imposing on the public, as they were not Methodists. However, the building 
went on, and when finished, they invited Francis Asbury, then Bisliop of tlie 
Methodist Episcopal Church, to ojien the liouse for divine service, which invita- 
tion he accepted, and the liouse was named Bethel. (See Gen. xxviii. 19.) 



*The Doctrines and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal ChiU'ch. ISmc, pp. 332. 
A. M. E. Chnreh Book Concern, Philadelphia. 1873. 



EsfahUshnent of African CJiu relies. 



565 



The congregation — so says the historical Preface we are quot- 
ing — obtained from the Legislature, by petition, a supplemental 
charter intended to relieve them from the grievances of white 
government; but this " exasperated their opponents," who "pro- 
posed supplying them with preaching if they would give six 
hundred dollars per year to the Methodist Society. The con- 
gregation not consenting, they fell to four hundred dollars; but 
the people were not willing to give more than two hundred dol- 
lars per year." This price being agreed on, the African breth- 
ren soon had occasion to complain of the quality of service: 

For this sum they [the whites] were to preach for them [the bhicks]* twice a 
week during the year. But it proved to be only six or seven times a year, and, 
sometimes by such preachers as were not acceptable to the Bethel people, and not 
in much esteem among the Methodists as preachers. The Bethel people being 
dissatisfied with such conduct, induced the trustees to pass a resolution to give but 
one hundred dollars per year to the Methodist preachers. When a quarterly pay- 
ment of the last sum was tendered it was refused and sent back, insisting on the 
two hundred dollars, or they would preach no more for tliem. At this time they 
pressed strongly to have the supplement repealed ; this they could not comply 
with. 

Richard Allen had been a Southern slave; but, self -redeemed, 
he was doing a thrifty mechanic's business and had accumulated 
property in Philadelphia. The white brethren now tried a coun- 
ter movement: they fixed up a house "not far from Bethel," and 
" an invitation was given to all who desired to be Methodists to 
resort thither." But the new house failed to draw. The his- 
torical Preface continues: 

Being disappointed in this plan, Bobert E. Eoberts, the resident elder of St. 
George's charge, came to Bethel and insisted on preaching to them and taking the 
spiritual charge, for they were IMethodists. He was told he should come on some ^ 
terms with tlie trustees; his answer was that he did not come to consult with 
Richard Allen nor the trustees, but to inform the congregation that on next Sab- 
bath-day he would come and take the charge.- They told him lie could not preacli 
for them under existing circumstances. However, at the appointed time he 
came, but having taken previous advice, they had their preacher in the pulpit 
when lie came, and the house so fixed that he could not get more tlian half-vray 
to the pulpit. Finding himself disappointed, he appealed to those who came 
with him as witnesses, that "that man," meaning the preacher, '"had taken his 
appointment." 

Several respectable white citizens (who kncAv the colored people had been ill 
used) were present, and told them not to fear, for they would see them righted, 
and not suffer Roberts to preach in a forcible manner; after which Ro])erts vrent 
away. 



566 



Hisfonj of Methodism. 



The next elder stationed at Pliiladelpliia was Kobert Birch, wlio, foHowing tlie 
example of his predecessor, came and published a meeting for himself; but the 
aforementioned method was adopted, and he had to go away disappointed. In 
consequence of this he applied to the supreme court for a writ of mandamus, to 
know wliy tlie pulpit was denied him, being an elder. This brought on a law- 
suit, whicli ended in favor of Bethel. 

The Rev. John Emory, in 1814, by a circular letter, disowned pas- 
toral responsibility for them, which the African brethren thought 
a disowning of them. They called a general convention of colored 
Methodists in April, 1816, to organize, and "taking into considera- 
tion their grievances, and in order to secure their i^rivileges and 
promote union among themselves, it was resolved that the people 
of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and all other places who should 
unite with them, should become one body under the name and 
style of the 'African Methodist Episcopal Church.'" Richard 
Allen was their first bishop. He has had some able successors, 
the majority of whom were born and converted in slavery."^ The 
African Methodist Episcopal Church is the largest negro Church 
in the world, and well organized. Their doctrines and disci- 
pline are closely modeled on the old Methodist Episcopal 
l^lan. Pretty soon the colored Methodists in the city of New 
York declared for independence. They struck out a different 
plan, and organized the "African Methodist Episcopal (Zion's) 
Church," to be governed by bishops quadrennially elected, but 
not set apart by the usual forms of ordination. Their local 
church was Zion; hence they are called Zionites, in distinction 
from Betlielites. The two are nearly equal in numbers.f 

The General Conference of 1820 strongly approved the Mis- 
sionary and the Tract Societies, and made them Connectional. 
• The troubles growing out of the presence of Wesleyan mis- 

■^He died in 1831; but the denomination has had a succession of able superin- 
tendents, some of whom have been remarkable for administrative talent and pul- 
pit eloquence. Of its eight bishops, three of whom laave died, all were slaves ex- 
cept one. In the United States they have (in 1867) ten Conferences, 550 preach- 
ers, including five bishops, but exclusive of 1,500 local preacliers, and about 200,- 
000 members. They have Church projDerty to the amount of $4,000,000, a Book 
Concern in Philadelphia, a weekly newspaper, and a college in Ohio. (Stevens's 
History of the M. E. Church, Vol. IV.) 

t There were about 840 Africans in the [New York] city Methodist churclies in 
1818, but in 1821 only Gl remained. (Ibid.) To these organizations Methodism at 
the North, in fact if not in form, relegated the religious instruction of the negroes 
for a half century. They have, in later years, spread through tlie South. 



Education — Joshua Soiile Resigns. 



567 



sionaries in Canada grew worse, and the Bishops were empow- 
ered to send a delegate to confer with the British Methodists on 
the subject. John Emory accordingly visited England on this 
business, and brought it to an amicable issue. Lower Canada 
became connected with the English Methodists, and Upper Can- 
ada retained its former connection with Episcopal Methodism; 
each body withdrawing all its preachers from the other's ground, 
and agreeing in no way to interfere therewith. Emory bore a, 
fraternal letter to the British Conference proposing an inter- 
change of delegates with that body, which was accepted, and 
Beys. Messrs. Beece and Hannah appeared as fraternal messen- 
gers from British to American Methodism at the next General 
Conference. John Emory was a native of Maryland, and bred 
to the bar, which he left, with the brightest prospects, for the 
ministry. His father, though a Methodist, was so grieved at the 
sacrifice which his gifted and promising son made, that for a 
long time he would not hear him preach. He was a polished 
shaft, capable of any service, the most difficult or laborious ; and 
this, his first public service for the Church, was so admirably 
performed that the eyes of all were upon him henceforth. 

The year 1820 marks the renewal of interest in education. It 
was recommended that district schools and colleges be estab- 
lished, and the Bishops were authorized to appoint presidents, 
principals,* or teachers, to all such establishments. "But," says 
a writer, " this was not effected without some opposition. Though 
the Church owed so much to the learning of its founders, some 
did not realize the importance of education. This may be at- 
tributed in part to the superior success of our preachers in the 
absence of literary training, over that of others who had been 
professionally educated for the work." 

During the next four years Augusta College was founded in 
Kentucky, under the patronage of the Kentucky and Ohio Con- 
ferences, being the first college successfully organized after the 
failure at Abingdon and Bethel. A number of useful and dis- 
tinguished men were employed and educated in its halls. 

It was agreed that an additional bishop was needed. Joshua 
Soule, then Book Agent, received forty-seven votes out of eighty- 
eight, and was elected; Nathan Bangs received thirty-eight. 
Six days afterward, resolutions on the election of presiding eld- 
ers, similar to those rejected by previous General Conferences, 



568 



History of Methodism. 



were adopted. Thereupon Joshua Soule, for whose consecration 
the time had been fixed, addressed to the Bishops a note saying: 

In consequence of an act of the General Conference, passed this day, in which 
I conceive the constitution of the Methodist Episcopal Churcli is violated, and 
that episcopal government, which has heretofore distinguished her, greatly ener- 
vated, by a transfer of executive power from the episcopacy to the several Annual 
Conferences, it becomes my duty to notify you, from the imposition of whose 
hands only I can be qualified for the office of superintendent, that under the ex- 
isting state of things I cannot, consistently with my convictions of propriety and 
obligation, enter upon the work of an itinerant general superintendent. 

The matter was brought into the Conference, where it wrs 
^'moyed that Brother Soule be, and hereby is, respectfully re- 
quested to withdraw his resignation, and submit to the wishes 
of his brethren in being ordained a bishop." This prevailed, 
forty-nine voting for it. When this was stated to Joshua Soule 
he still insisted upon "resigning his election." His opinions 
were well known, and he had been elected by a majority of nine 
over Dr. Bangs, who (though he changed his views afterward 
on that point) was a representative of the other party. 

It seems that Bishop George held an, interview with the si^e- 
cial committee of six (three from each side) who were seeking 
for a compromise or accommodation plan to settle a question 
that was continually obtruding itself. Some of the opponents 
of change got the impression that the resolutions, as slightly 
amended, were divested of their unconstitutional features, and 
being weary of strife, for peace's sake, they either voted for them 
or declined to oppose them, and they were adopted without de- 
bate by a vote of sixty-one to twenty-five. 

The situation of Joshua Soule, who had been strong and de- 
cided heretofore, kept him silent pending the question. Hear- 
ing of this action Bishop McKendree, who had retired into the 
country for rest until the ordination, returned to the city and 
called the Bishops together. He expressed to them his decided 
conviction that the action was in violation of the third Restrict- 
ive Eule, as it changed the plan of the general superintendency. 
Bishop Roberts concurred with him in this view, but did not 
wish to make any personal opposition. Bishop George declined 
to express any opinion as to its infringement of the constitu- 
tion, but expressed himself in favor of what had been done. 
The majority of the Conference, finding that their action had 
been taken in a misunderstanding, voted to suspend the resolu- 



Elective Presiding Eldership, 



569 



tions for four years, and they directed the Bishops to administer 
under the Discipline as it had previously stood. 

Joshua Soule adhering to his position, the Bishops requested 
that another election be held, as they needed an additional col- 
league. The majority expressed their purpose to reelect Soule, 
and the minority finding them resolute, "protested," and x>eti- 
tioned the Bishops to withdraw their request and let the elec- 
tion be deferred for four years. Whereupon Bishops George and 
Roberts agreed to perform the extra labor. 

The working of a system discloses its weaknesses and its 
strength. A defect in the constitution of 1808 now appeared: 
How shall it be determined whether an act of the General Con- 
ference is contrary to, or in conflict with, the Restrictive Rules? 
Before the session concluded, an effort was made to establish a 
method by which the constitutionality of measures could be 
properly tested. A resolution was passed recommending the 
Annual Conferences so to alter the Discipline that if a majority, 
of the Bishops judged a measure unconstitutional they should 
return it to the General Conference with their objections within 
three days, and a majority of two-thirds should be required for 
its final passage. This resolution, however, was not concurred in 
by the Annual Conferences. The same fate met a similar effort 
four years later. This want of a constitutional test must be sup- 
plied sooner or later — by the civil, if not by the Church, courts. '^^ 
Having no other resort Bishop McKendree addressed the An- 
nual Conferences. He was more concerned to save the constitu- 
tion than to save any part of the government protected by the 
constitution. Fully persuaded that the action taken was inex- 
pedient and unwise, yet if it must be done let it be done accord- 
ing to the fundamental law. Therefore, for the twofold reasons 
of harmony and legality, he recommended to the Annual Confer- 
ences such an alteration of the third Restrictive Rule as would 

This want was not supplied until 1870, when the following amendment was 
made to the constitution hy the General Conference voting 160 yeas to 4 nays, 
and the Annual Conferences concurring by 2,024 yeas to 9 nays: ''When any rale 
or regulation is adopted by the General Conference which, in the opinion of the 
Bishops, is unconstitutional, the Bishops may present to the Conference which 
passed said rule or regulation their objections thereto, with their reasons, in writ- 
ing, and if the General Conference shall, by a two-thirds vote, adhere to its action 
on said rule or regulation, it shall tlien take the course prescribed for alteiing a 
Restrictive Rule." {Proviso in Discipline M. E. Church, South.) 



570 



History of Methodism. 



allow the suspended resolutions to be adojDted.^ Seven out of 
twelve gave judgment against the resolutions as unconstitutional, 
but recommended such a change in the Restrictive Piule as would 
let them x^ass. The other five Annual Conferences refused to 
take action because it would imply that a majority of the Gen- 
eral Conference had not full power to act finally, and they ex- 
pected to have that majority in the next session. + 

However, the elections preceding the session of 1824 showed 
that the majority of delegates chosen were oj^posed to the con- 
templated alterations. Accordingly, May 2tl:tli, the following 

^For the text of this Eule see foot-note, page 513. 
. jThe vievrs of Bishop McKendree may be tlr.is summed tip: It is the duty of 
the Bishops, as general superintendent-, to carry into effect the laws made by the 
General Conference; therefore, they are elected l)y that body, and amenable to it 
for tlieir moral and official conduct. In this way uniformity may be preserved 
throughout the Annual Conferences, and errors in the administration corrected; 
while the administration, even from the very extremities of the work, through the 
responsibility of the General Superintendents, is brotight under the inspection and 
control of the General Cc>nference. 

The presiding elder, ever since the office was constituted in 1792, is the agent 
or assistant of a Bishop: is part of the executive government; and in his district 
is authorized to diseliarge all the duties of the absent Bishop, except ordination. 
The authority by which the Bishop is enabled '"'to oversee the business of the 
Church" consists largely, therefore, in the power of appointing the presiding 
elders. In case they should neglect or refuse to do their duty, as laid down in the 
Discipline, it becomes the duty of the General Superintendent to remove such 
from office, and supply their places with others who will carry out the law. But 
if the presiJina" elders are elected by the various Annual Conferences, they may 
counteract the Gt-n-ral Superintendent, or clash with each other, administering 
law dif'erently in difierent places. How could the General Conference then hold tlie 
BislK'p responsible for the perversion or contempt of its laws? One Annual Con- 
ference may sustain a presiding elder in an administration for which another An- 
nual Conference would condemn him. The General Conference, in thus trans- 
ferring exectitive power from tlie * Tcneral Superintendents to the Annual Confer- 
ences, efiectually destroys its own power of regulating the general administration; 
and tjie connection between making laws and executing them ceases. 

But if the Church is minded to have it so, the constitution otight first to be 
changed ; lor the general superintendency that was placed imder the protection of 
its Tliird Article is essentially different from Avliat tliis new rule would make it. 
Otherwise, the senior Bishop insisted that not the epi^copavy alone was involved, 
but every interest which the constitution was meant to guard was liable to be 
overridden by tlie jDOVN'er of a mere majority vote. Sttch a precedent, he con- 
cluded, "wfiuld efiectually divest the members of our Church of all constitutional 
security for their rights, and reduce them to the necessity of depending entirely on 
the vrisdom and goodness of the General Conference for those inestimable blessings." 



Two More Bishops: Soiile and Hedcling — Agitation. 571 



preamble and resolution were moved and considered in the Gen- 
eral Conference: 

"Whereas a majority of the Annual Conferences have judged the resolutions 
making presiding elders elective, and which were passed and then suspended at 
the last General Conference, unconstitutional: therefore, 

Resolved, That the said resolutions are not of authority, and shall not be car- 
ried into effect. 

The vote was taken by ballot — sixty-three in favor and sixty- 
one against it, and the motion was pronounced "sustained." 

But the ghost would not down, and near the close of the ses- 
sion the "resolutions" were declared to be " unfinished business," 
and suspended until the next General Conference. 

The field was enlarging and the health of the senior Bishop 
was becoming more feeble; therefore, on May 26th two addi- 
tional bishops were elected — Joshua Soule and Elijah Hedding."^ 

The next four years w^ere marked by agitation. American 
Methodism had two irrepressible questions — an English heritage 
— that could not be settled inside the bod}". One, about this time, 
worked out of it; and the other, twenty years later, divided 
it. The English plan of making appointments was never suited 
to America. There, one Conference, which is both Annual and 
General, meets in a small territory; remote stations and circuits 
can communicate with it during its sessions ; and people can ob- 
ject to proposed appointments as well as preachers. The chair- 
men of districts, though elected, are held annually responsible to 
the central law-making Conference for carrying oat its rules and 
regulations. Here, a very small number of stations and circuits 
can communicate with an Annual Conference while in session. 
The preachers might have an opportunity of discussing pro- 
posed appointments, but the people would not. Moreover, wliile 
with us there are many Annual Conferences, there is only one 
General Conference having power to make laws which meets 
once in four years, and administers or executes its laws through 
general superintendents, or Bishops, elected by it and amenable 
to it for their moral and official conduct. Presiding elders 
(corresponding to x?hairmen of districts), Avho assist in executing 

■^128 votes were given, of wliich Joshua Soule had 64, William Beau champ 62, 
Elijah Hedding 61, John Emory 59. On balloting the second time 128 votes 
were given, of which Joshua Soule had 65, Elijah Hedding 64, William Beau- 
champ 62, John Emory 58. John Emory witlidrew his name, and Elijali Hed- 
ding was elected on the third ballot. 



572 



History of Methodism. 



laws, are amenable only to their Annual Conferences. Yet upon 
an American Conference system, tliat had grown up so dif- 
ferent from the English, by reason of social facts and conti- 
nental distances, there was a persistent effort from the begin- 
ning to ingraft the English idea. O'Kelley began it, encouraged 
by the knowledge of Dr. Coke's sympathy; and the latter obtruded 
the subject upon every opportunity, after O'Kelleyism had sig- 
nally failed. The end of the strife comes now in a formidable 
secession. The discussion on electing presiding elders led to 
discussions as to the rights of local preachers, for they claimed 
that when officers were to be elected they had a right, in some 
way, to take part. The excitement spread to the membership, 
who suggested that their rights should be represented when class- 
leaders were apiDointed, and when changes were proposed in 
Church economy. And all malcontents found utterance in a very 
vigorous paper called Mutual Rights. "In its pages inflamma- 
tory articles were- published, and severe attacks were made upon 
the economy of the Church. The English system was repre- 
sented as superior to the American, and it was claimed that the 
excitement was sweeping over the Church." The combination 
was a threatening one. "Union Societies" were formed among 
the members who favored reform, both to spread their principles 
and to support each other in case of prosecution by the Church. 

Of course, as Baltimore had been the seat of every General 
Conference except one, the commotion was greatest there. Her 
preachers and people had been entertained with so many discus- 
sions on the evils of Church economy that the dissatisfied ele- 
ment was readily organized. Bishops and presiding elders were 
denounced as tyrants, and the people were invited to contend 
for their rights. In 1827 a convention was called in Baltimore, 
which laid down a platform of principles and appointed a com.- 
mittee with authority to call a second convention when they 
should deem it advisable. 

Strong memorials — demands — were addressed to the ensuing 
General Conference, which met for the first time west of the 
Alleghany Mountains, in the city of Pittsburg. But by this 
time the conservative elements had rallied against the destruc- 
tive rush of threatened revolution. Even lay delegation, the 
last plank and the most popular one in the new platform, could 
not then be considered with the favor which it received at a later 



Methodist Protestant Church. 



573 



day. The temper on both sides, in the greatly widened controversy, 
\Yas unfavorable to concession. The reformers were aggressive 
and hopeful, for several reasons. They believed their cause just; 
it was favored by the political tendency of the country ; an envious 
element of sectarianism which once existed in other denomina- 
tions, and was ever ready to humble Methodism, was forward 
and loud to encourage disaffection; but chiefly they miscalculated 
as to the final adhesion of men who had, at one time or other, 
expressed viev/s in sympathy with their own. Even Bascom ut- 
tered some sentiments, in the heyday of his blood, which were 
not in harmony with his maturer life as one of the strongest, 
steadiest, and most trusted leaders of Episcopal Methodism the 
Church has ever had. Hedding leaned that way once, on the 
original question, and Bangs and Waugh. Emory criticised and 
antagonized Bishop McKendree and Joshua Soule for the 
prompt, resolute means they used to save the constitution. 
Bishop George, in judicial weakness, and Bishop Roberts, by 
amiable irresolution, in the primary movement let the ship 
drive. But now, when the radical tendencies of these things 
were seen, the conservatives closed ranks and stood firm. The 
report of the General Conference, made by John Emory, was 
kind, strong, and conclusive, and put an end to the hopes of the 
reformers, who proceeded to the organization of the Methodist 
Protestant Church. Some who originally favored modifications, 
so soon as the proposed measures, v/hich lay at the bottom, had 
been declared unconstitutional, declined further agitation. Meth- 
odism had been demonstrated a most efiicient plan for spreading 
the gospel. Practically it had never oppressed them; if any 
were oppressed it was the class who did not complain but were 
complained against — the itinerant preachers. Thoughtful men 
must not be counted on to join in a theoretical and destructive 
reform because every pin and screw in the tabernacle that has shel- 
tered them is not exactly to their notion. Unfortunately a reform 
which began in principles drifted largely into personalities. " The 
most ungracious assault," says a writer well informed in the lit- 
erature of that day, "was that which was made upon Bishop 
George. Such, generally, is the lot of those who, while favoring 
partial changes, adhere to the vital principles of an organiza- 
tion. They must either go with the reformers to the point of 
destruction, or be regarded as traitors to their interests." 



574 



History of Mefliodism. 



Into the Methodist Protestant Church, at Baltimore, Pitts- 
burg, and Cincinnati, and several other places, went many of the 
best and wealthiest laymen of the old Church; and not a few 
ministers (mostly local) of ability and high character cast their 
lot with them — Asa Shinn, Nicholas Snethen ("the silver trum- 
pet " of Bishop Asbury), Cornelius Springer, and more, A pure 
doctrine has been ministered at its altars; and while the denomina- 
tion has not prospered, not a few bright examples of devout congre- 
gations and of personal piety have adorned it. Its ministry and 
press have never been without strong men, and the members 
have been generous. Its polity is marked with an extreme jeal- 
ousy of power, which is lodged nowhere, but "distributed;" and 
there are guards and balances and checks. A brake on the 
wheels of a railroad-train is a good thing to keep from going too 
fast; but a railroad-train, constructed on the principle of a brake, 
will not go at all. This honor justly belongs to the Methodist 
Protestant Church: its one good, peculiar principle — lay delega- 
tion — has in late years been incorporated into the chief Method- 
ist bodies of Europe and America. 

An irrepressible cause of discontent and schism was thus 
removed by a secession which carried with it ministers and 
members who were followed by sincere regret. Then the 
Church had rest for a season, and entered upon an era of unpre- 
cedented prosperity. Accessions made up for secessions, and 
showed an increase in ministers and members every year."^ 

In 1820 American had agreed with British Methodism on a 
dividing line, giving up Lower Canada to them and taking 
Upper Canada; and each, by compact, withdrew from the other's 
territory. Upper Canada — hitherto divided in its territory be- 
tween Genesee and Nev/ England Conferences — petitioned to 
be set up as an Annual Conference in 1824 ; and this was done, 
making the seventeenth. In 1828 the five delegates of the Can- 
ada Conference were in their seats at Pittsburg, representing 

"From 1820 to 1824 the increase in membership was 71,642. The member- 
ship during the next quadrennium increased 42,646. In 1829 there was an increase 
of 29,305, and in 1830 an increase of 28,410, besides the loss oi the Canada Con- 
ference. The increase during 1831 was 37,114, and in 1832 it was 35,479, making 
in the four years from 1828 to 1832 — the chief period of secession — an increase in 
ministers from 1,642 to 2,200, and in members from 418,438 to 548,593, being 
more than 130,000 in the four years — the largest increase the Church had ever 
realized in the same period. 



The Canada Conference — Dr. Capers. 



575 



nine thousand six hundred and seventy-eight members, with val- 
uable Church property. They and other memorialists represent- 
ed that great inconvenience was experienced on account of their 
being under a foreign government. Prejudices growing out of 
this hindered them, and they asked for the connection to be dis- 
solved.. The jurisdiction of the General Conference was accord- 
ingly withdrawn, and they were authorized to form themselves 
into a separate Church, and their proportional interest in the 
Book Concern and Chartered Fund was provided for. A resolu- 
tion was also adopted that if the Canada Conference should declare 
itself a separate Church and elect a superintendent, our Bish- 
ops should ordain him. In October, 1828, the Conference held 
its annual session, under the presidency of Bishop Hedding, and 
formed itself into the Canada Methodist Episcopal Church, adopt- 
ting the Discipline as its basis. The Bishop congratulated them 
and gave them his blessing. It is pleasant to record an instance 
of regular separation after three stormy secessions. A union 
was effected, in 1833, with the Wesleyan Church of Great Brit- 
ain. Several ministers and members, dissatisfied with this action, 
reorganized the Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, and 
maintained their separate existence until the late general union. 

The Cliristian Advocate had been started in New York in 1826, 
and shortly before that the Wesleijan Joiirncd, in Charleston. 
The two were merged. The General Conference of 1828 elected 
Nathan Bangs editor of the Christian Advocate and Joiirncd; John 
Emory was elected Book Agent, and Beverly Waugh assistant. 

In 1824 the General Conference instructed the Bishops to ap- 
point a fraternal delegate to the British Conference. They met 
in Baltimore in 1826 to do this. Bishops McKendree and Soule 
nominated Dr. William Capers: Bishox)s George and Hedding 
objected that he was a slave-holder, and nominated Dr. Wilbur 
Fisk. Neither side would yield, and the election was postponed. 
Next year Bishop Eoberts was present — the other Bishops were 
still of the same mind, and as he would not take the responsi- 
bility of giving the casting vote, the matter went by default, 
and was referred back to the General Conference. Dr. William 
Capers, of South Carolina, was chosen."^ 

"'^May 17 the Conference took up "tlie order of tlie day, to elect a delegate to 
the British Conference." Two ballots were had. On the first, Capers received 75, 
and risk 67 ; on the second, Capers received 82, and Fisk 72. 



576 



History of Methodism. 



He loved home and his Church-work, but vrrote to his v/ife on 
the day the "undesirable distinction" was conferred: "I could 
not decline being a candidate, for reasons which you know; and 
besides the important principle, involving the interests generally 
of all the Southern preachers, I could not decline because of the 
unpleasant dilemma in which it vrould have placed those of the 
Bishops who had so perseveringly maintained my nomination." 
Writing again from New York, before taking ship: 

I wish you could have heard last night how Brother AVaugh, concluding the 
service after I ]iad preac-jied, prayed for me, and for you, and our dear children 
also; and how many loud aniens rang through the church. I liad a blessed day 
yesterday — Sunday. My mouth Avas opened, and my heart enlarged, and the con- 
gregations seemed to feel pretty generally a correspondent interest in the services. 
As I said before so let me repeat, we know not what the Divine will may be, but 
let us lose ourselves in God and we shall infallibly come out on the right and 
best side. If we fully purpose in our liearts that "whether we live, we live unto 
the Lord, or vrhether we die, we die unto the Lord," he will take care — our con- 
duct being consistent — that ''we live and die the Lord's." 

Dr. Capers was the first fraternal delegate from American 
Methodism to the British Wesleyans, and none more fit for such 
an embassy has ever followed. The Conference at City Koacl 
presented "their warmest thanks" to him "for the great ability. 
Christian spirit, and brotherly kindness with which he has dis- 
charged the duties of his honorable mission," and to "the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church in America for the a]3pointment of their 
excellent representative, who had confirmed their feelings of re- 
spect and attachment toward their American brethren at large." 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 



Indian Missions Established — Wyandots, Muskogees, Choctaws, Cherokees, Flat- 
heads — The Indian Mission Conference — Missions to Negro Slaves — The Be- 
ginning and Progress of Plantation Missions: Difficulties of this Work. 

The servile progeny of Ham 

Seize as the purchase of thy blood; 
Let all the heathen know thy name: 

From idols to the living God 
The wand'ring Indian tribes convert, 
And shine in every pagan heart. 

(Charles Wesley.) 

JOHN and Charles Wesley came to America to convert the 
Indians, but died without the sight. None have been so 
successful as Wesleyans in converting "the wandering tribes." . 

In 1815, while Marcus Lindsey was preaching in Marietta, 
Ohio, John Stewart passed by — the negro who went out as the 
first missionary among the Wyandot Indians. Stewart, in one 
of his drunken fits, had started to the river to drown himself. 
On his way he had to pass by the place where Lindsey was hold- 
ing meeting, and being attracted by the sound, he stood at the 
door, where he could hear all that was said. The preacher was 
describing the lost sinner's condition, exposed to death and hell ; 
and then he presented the offer of mercy — Jesus died for all, 
and the worst of sinners might find pardon. The Spirit, by his 
word, arrested Stewart there, and turned his feet from the way 
of death to the path of life. He was much engaged in reading 
the Bible and in prayer for weeks. Long fasting and vigils were 
broken by a vision. Whether awake or asleep he could not say, 
but he professed to have heard a voice saying, "You must go in a 
north-westerly direction to the Indian Nation, and tell the savage 
tribes of Christ your Saviour."* On the Upper Sandusky he 
found, among the wigwams of the Wyandots, a negro, Jonathan 
Pointer, who had been captured on the Kanawha when a boy, 
and who acted as his interpreter. His first congregation con- 
sisted of an old Indian, "Big Tree," and an aged Indian woman. 



37 



* Finley's Sketches of Western Methodism. 



(577) 



578 



History of Methodism. 



Mary. Stewart conld sing well, and with Pointer's help he made 
his message understood. He refused "fire-water," was given to 
prayer and preaching, and soon had a dominant influence over 
the clan. His first congregation was converted, and his converts 
multiplied. The matter was noised abroad. In 1819 the Ohio 
Conference sent James Montgomery to help him, both being un- 
der the presiding eldership of James B. Finley. Finley, a North 
Carolinian, had early gone to the Xorth-west, and was long a lead- 
ing character there. He nursed the Indian Mission wisely for 
years, and earned, by his looks and labors, the sobriquet of " Chief." 
A school was established, and a heroic woman, Harriet Stubbs, 
sister-in-law of Judge McLean, went to their aid as teacher of 
Indian girls. "She possessed," says Finle}^, "more courage and 
fortitude than any one of her age and sex that I have been ac- 
quainted with. In a short time the intre^^id female missionary 
was the idol of the whole nation. They looked upon her as an 
angel messenger sent from the spirit land to teach them the way 
to heaven. They called her the 'pretty redbird.'" 

Finley, Elliott, Henkle, and other preachers, labored among 
the scattered tribes. Stewart died in the faith in 1823. In 1820 
converted AYyandots bore the news of their evangelization to a 
kindred tribe — the Ojibways — in Canada. Two Indian preachers 
went thither, and twelve years later there were ten aboriginal mis- 
sionary stations in Upper Canada, with nearly 2,000 adult Indian 
members, and 400 youths were receiving instruction in eleven 
schools; and the names of John Sunday, Peter Jones, and other 
native evangelists were known at home and abroad."^ 

Bishops McKendree and Soule visited these missions in 1824. 
Finley met them at Columbus and conducted them to the scene. 
They were delighted at the change which had resulted from the 
labors of the missionaries among the AYyandots, both in their 
temporal and spiritual condition. Their religion had consisted 
of paganism and some of the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic 
Church. They had kept u^d their feasts, songs, and dances; and 
so strong was their belief in witchcraft that numbers had been 
put to death as Twitches. Drunkenness, poverty, and misery 
abounded. But now a large majority had renounced their oJd 
faith and practices. Many had joined the Church, and were 



^' Histories of Bangs, Finley, and Strickland. 



Wyandots and Creeks — Ashurij Manual Labor School. 579 



attentive to the means of grace; among them five leading chiefs — 
Big Tree, Between-the-Logs, Menoncne, Hicks, and Peacock. 
Big Tree was the first convert of his tribe; Between-the-Logs 
became a powerful preacher, but Menoncue excelled him ii; the 
peculiar aboriginal eloquence: 

Tlie habits of Christian social and domestic life prevailed. At the manual 
labor mission-school a fine farm was in operation, supplying abundantly the wants 
of the mission family and school with corn, wheat, oats, rye, flax, and a variety 
and profusion of vegetables. The neigliboring Indians were imitating this model 
establishment. On the Sabbath both of tlie Bishops preached to a large assem- 
bly, tlirough the interpreter. By appointment they met a number of the lead- 
ers of the nation. Bishop McKendree, after addressing them, invited them to in- 
form him of tlieir views in relation to the mission and the general interests of the 
nation. Menoncue, Punch, Gray Eyes, Peacock, Between-the-Logs, Driver, Wash- 
ington, and Big Tree, replied. They gratefully adverted to the change in the 
creed, manners, morals, and condition, which had resulted from the mission, and 
earnestly asked that it might be continued. Bishop McKendree continued visit- 
ing from house to liouse, attended by an interpreter, explaining experimental re- 
ligion and enforcing its practical precepts. On the 14th of August they left, im- 
pressed and delighted with the visit. Bishop Soule, who had never before been 
among the Indians, was especially surprised and pleased; and both of them, 
through the remainder of their lives, often adverted to the scene, which seemed 
to linger in their memories like the echo of an enchanting song."^ 

The next enterprise was a mission to the Creek Indians, occu- 
pying at that time lands in Georgia and Alabama, east and west 
of the Chattahooche River. In 1821 Dr. Capers was selected 
by Bishop McKendree to set on foot this mission. He was then 
making the first successful effort to replant Methodism in Sa- 
vannah. He set out on horseback on an extensive tour of ap- 
pointments, for the purpose of awakening public attention to 
the moral and religious improvement of this tribe of Indians, 
who occupied the western frontier of the Conference. Contri- 
butions were solicited for the purpose of erecting mission prem- 
ises and establishing a school; and the project, in the hands of 
so eloquent an advocate, met with general favor. He visited the 
Creek Agency and had an interview with the celebrated half- 
breed chief Mcintosh, who, according to stately etiquette, though 
he understood English, would communicate with Dr. Capers 
only through an interpreter. 

Asbury Manual Labor School was located at Fort Mitchell, 
near the present city of Columbus, and Dr. CaperSj that he 



Paine's Life and Times of McKendree. 



580 



Hisfory of Methodism. 



might the better snxjerintend it, was for 1823-24 stationed in 3Iil- 
ledgeville. There were man}' ad^-ersaries, but the school con- 
tinued for several years. Isaac Smith, whom we met last on 
Edisto, founding the Church there, consented, in his sixty-first 
year, to teach the Indians also. In his house Capers made his 
first public prayer, and he and two others entertained the South 
Carolina Conference at its first meeting in Camden. He won 
the affections of the red men, and in 1829 there were reported 
seventy-one members at the Asbury Station, and the school con- 
sisted of fifty scholars. In 1830 the mission was discontinued. 
The labor was not lost, since many of the Indians, after their 
remoA'al beyond the Mississippi Eiver, were gathered into the 
fold of Christ, and traced their religious impressions to Father 
Smith and his associates and successors, Aneli^ew Hammill, 
Daniel G. McDaniel, Matthew Eaiford, and Whitman C. Hill.'-^ 
The evangelization of the Choctaws and Chickasaws — kindred 
and adjoining tribes — was like a nation being born in a day. 
Eev. Alexander Talley+ appears as missionary to Pensacola and 
Mobile as early as 1822. Subsequently he presided over the 
Louisiana District. In 1827 he was appoint ?d missionary to the 
Indians in Xorth Mississippi, and Avith tent and interpreter he set 
himself to the work. The interpreter (an Indian) shrunk from 
appearing before large crowds, and this confined the missionary 
to mere groups. He pitched his tent among small settlements, 
invited them to come and hear the "good talk,"" and he taught the 
groups that gathered, and passed on. The teaching was dii'ect — 
the fall of man, sin, redemption in Christ, repentance and love 
and obedience. He called for a turning to the Lord instantly. 
Before he got round in detail the chief, Leflore, sent for him, 
courteously entreated him, and made the teacher welcome to 
head-quarters. Years before, a French trader, Leflore, had set- 
tled on the Natchez trace, married an Indian, grown wealthy, and 
had a numerous progeny of sons and daughters. Greenwood Le- 
flore, the oldest son, had been educated among the whites, was 

^Of the number is Samuel Cliecote, elected Chief of the Creek Xation in 
their present home (Indian Territory), in 1867, for four years, and twice reelectc-d. 
He is the leading member of the Indian Mission Conference, and has often served 
as presiding elder. Checote was at Fatlier Smith's school when a youth, and re- 
members him, though now sixty-six years old. 

t One of tliree preacher-brotliers — Nicholas and .John AV. being the otlier two. 



Leflore, TciUeij—The Clioctairs^, 



principal chief of the nation, and Talley's interpreter upon occa- 
sions; and a more flnent and eloquent one, according to accounts, 
missionary never had. One of the first reform movements was to 
suppress the whisky traffic. The ordinance passed in council was 
duly gaarded by penalty: "The offender v>^as to be struck a hard 
lick on the head with a stick, and his v/hisky poured out on the 
ground." A self-willed brave defied the law — Offa-homa (Red- 
dog) — and met the penalty ; for they were in earnest. A camp-meet- 
ing was held, and Captain Offa-homa, with a deep scar unhealed 
on his scalp, was among the first to appear. The Leflore family, 
the most intelligent and influential in the nation, and the com- 
mon people, v/ere brought under religious influence, and a spir- 
itual power pervaded the tribe. The venerable Isaac Smith 
came up from the Muskogee School — Asbury — and his word and 
manner, emphasized by his gray hairs, made an uncommon im- 
pression. As he uttered paragraphs of Bible truth enough to 
save a world, Leflore, standing by his side, would interpret to 
the multitude seated and standing around. The interpreter en- 
larged on his text and wept; the people v/ept. A young preacher 
was present; in old age he describes the scene. He "had just 
read the first volume of Watson's Institutes, and thought the ar- 
gument in favor of the divine origin of Christianity fine ; but as 
he sat there among those untutored men and women, melted and 
weeping profusely u/nder the w^ord as the Holy Spirit applied it, 
he felt that the strongest argument for the gospel's divinity v/as 
before him. His own heart was strangely warmed, and he was 
more than ever determined thereafter to preach nothing but the 
pure, unadorned gospel of Jesus Christ, since that alone is the 
power of God unto salvation." 

Alexander Talley took a delegation of Indian converts to the 
Annual Conference which met at Tuscaloosa in 1828. After his 
report vras read the Conference requested that one of the Indians 
might give an account of the work of grace and the prospects of 
the nation. Captain Washington responded through the inter- 
preter. The Conference was x^owerfully moved. Bishop Soule 
rose from the chair, shook the hand of the chief, and welcomed 
him and his people to the church, and exclaimed, "Brethren, 
the Choctavv^ Nation is ours! No — I mistake; the Choctaw Na- 
tion is Jesus Christ's! " 



J. G. Jones's "'.I^^. Hlstcry. The liistorian ^vas present. 



582 



History of Methodism. 



Eevs. E. D. Smith and Moses Perry were sent to Talley's help. 
The Indian work spread and prevailed, and was divided into cir- 
cuits. The "falling exercise" was as common among these In- 
dians as it had been in the Kentucky and Tennessee revival of 
1800. Before the removal of the tribes to the West— 1830-32— 
over three thousand Choctaw and Chickasaw members were added 
to the Church. Moses Perry married into the tribe, and accom- 
panied them to their reservation beyond the Mississippi. 

"The Avork of the Spirit," says our historian and witness, 
"vv^as deep. We have witnessed among no j)eople more marked 
awakenings, conversions, and subsequent developments of Chris- 
tian experience than we have found among the Choctaws." 

In 1822 the Rev. Richard Neely, of the Tennessee Confer- 
ence, commenced to preach to the Cherokees in North Alabama, 
a nation more advanced than the Creeks. The xlmerican Board 
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions had conducted mission- 
ary operations among them since 1817. Under Neely's preach- 
ing a class of thirty-three members was formed. At the follow- 
ing session of the Conference the Rev. A. J. Crawford was 
appointed missionary to the Cherokees and, with the approval 
of the chiefs in that part of the nation, opened a school which 
met with 'favor. Revivals of religion followed, and at the Con- 
ference of 1823 one hundred and eight members were reported. 
The work continued to grow, notwithstanding the political dis- 
turbances to which the tribe was subjected, until in 1830 there 
were eight hundred and fifty-five members of the Church, and 
five schools with about one hundred pupils. John Fletcher 
Boot and Turtle Fields and Blackbird were noted native preach- 
ers, though after the removal West a number were raised up 
whose influence was great — Carey, Standing-man, and others. 

In 1832-33 the Conference, being met in St. Louis, received a 
remarkable call from the Flat Head Indians of Oregon. By 
some means they had heard that the white men had a book which 
told about the Great Spirit and another world. Tliey sent a dele- 
gation across the Rocky Mountains to find the book and to ask for 

'■^ The Cherokee Mission stands thus in the Minutes of tlie Tennessee Confer- 
ence for 1827: William McMahon, Superintendent of Indian Mission; Will's 
Valley, Greenberry Garrett; Oostahnahla, Turtle Fields; Echota, James J. Trott; 
Oocthkellogee, Greenville T. Henderson; Creek Path, John B. McFerrin; Cha- 
tooga, Allen F. Scruggs; Salakowa, Dickson C. McLeod. 



The Flatheads — The Indian Statistics. 583 



a teaclier. They made known their wants ; the intelligence was 
published throughout the country, and three young men of New 
England — Jason and Daniel Lee, and Gyrus Shepherd, volun- 
teered for this work. They arrived at Fort Vancouver in Sep- 
tember, 1834, and commenced their labors. But the principal 
result has been the laying a foundation for the white churches 
on the Upper Pacific Coast. The Indian tribes there are feeble 
and scattered, and melting away rapidly. 

That fertile country lying south of Missouri, west of Arkansas, 
and north of Texas, is called the Indian Territory. To it the 
Government has removed tribe after tribe, as their title to lands 
in the East has been extinguished. Each tribe has its appointed 
metes and bounds; and to th^se mentioned already may be added 
. the remnants of the Senecas, Modocs, Kickapoos, and Shawnees. 
Methodist missionaries like Gumming and Harrell followed them 
from the old home, where evangelization commenced, to the new 
home where in time an Annual Conference ^was organized. In 
1882 there were four districts — Cherokee, Muskogee or Creek, 
Chickasaw, and Choctaw — and fifty appointments supplied by 
preachers, many of them Indians. There were 5,026 Indian 
members, and 112 looal preachers. Exclusive of these, 1,100 
white people and 30 negroes were numbered in the membership 
of the Indian Conference.'^ Their numerous schools — male and 
female — are supported in part by the Government annuities and 
in part by the Missionary Society. 

"'^-The Minutes for 1882 contain obituaries of three traveling preachers: Isaac 
Saunders "was born in the old home of the Cherokees — east of the Mississippi." 
For thirty-two years he was an itinerant preacher among his people in the Indian 
Territory. "Twenty-nine years," says the official memoir, adopted by the Con- 
ference and printed in the General Minutes, "he was on the effective list. The 
Journal does not show a single complaint against him. His faith in Christ was 
unbroken to the last." Moses Mitchell was a full-blooded Seminole, in the sev- 
enth year of liis ministry. "He was converted," says the memoir, " when young, 
and triumphed when passing through the sufferings of death." James McHenry, 
one of the patriarchs of the body, a Creek, was born on Flint Eiver, and was sixty- 
five years old when he died. Like other eminent preachers, he presided over his 
native councils as well as ciricuits in the nation. These items are furnished by 
his comrade, Checote: "I first saw him in 1828-29, at the Methodist boarding- 
school near Fort Mitchell, in Alabama. He and I were ordained elders in the 
year 1859, at the Annual Conference held at the Old Creek Agency, over which 
Bishop Paine presided. He was four years president of the Senate, and was judge 
of Coweta District at his death. He died in the Lord." 



584 



History of Methodism. 



As a general rule negro slaves received the gospel by Method- 
ism, from the same preachers and in the same churches Avith 
their masters — the galleries, or a portion of the body of the 
house, being assigned to them. If a separate building was pro- 
vided, the negro congregation was an appendage to the white, 
the pastor usually preaching once on Sunday for them, holding 
sejparate official meetings v/ith their leaders, exhorters, and 
preachers, and administering discipline, and making return of 
members for the Annual Minutes. But the condition of the slave 
population segregated on the rice and sugar and cotton planta- 
tions appealed for help. The regular ministry did not reach the 
river deltas of the low country — a malarial region in which few 
white people are found. For twenty years before, missionaries to 
the slave population had been going through the regions most 
accessible; but in 1829 a system of plantation service and in- 
struction was inaugurated by the South Carolina Conference. 

On the east side of the modest marble obelisk placed over 
the grave of William Capers is this inscription: "The Founder 
of Missions to the Slaves." In the autumn after his return from 
England, he was waited on by a wealthy planter on Santee, to 
learn if a Methodist exhorter could be recommended to him suit- 
able for an overseer. He was aw^are of Dr. Capers's interest in 
the religious welfare of the colored people, and that the prejudices 
and mistrusts which certain unfortunate ecclesiastical utterances 
had created against the Methodists could not attach to him who, 
besides other guarantees of character, was himself a slave-hold- 
er; and the happy results which had followed the pious endeav- 
ors of a Methodist overseer on the xDlantation of one of his 
Georgia friends had directed this planter's attention to the sub- 
ject. Dr. Capers doubted whether he could serve him in that 
particular way, but assured him that if he v/ould allow him to 
make application to the Bishop and Missionary Board at the 
approaching session of the Conference, a minister, for v/hose 
character he could vouch fully, should be sent to his plantation 
as a missionary, whose time and efforts should be devoted exclu- 
sively to the religious instruction and spiritual welfare of his 
colored people. To this proposal cordial assent was given. 
Soon after two others, wealthy planters of Pon Pon and of Com- 
bahee, united in a similar request. 

Dr. Capers, in addition to his duties as presiding elder of 



( Beginning of Plantation Missions. 



585 



Cliarleston District, accepted the difficult and delicate position 
of superintendent of the first negro missions established. With 
most judicious care were the two men chosen who v/ere to enter 
this opening door and, by the results achieved, to keep it open. 
The following account of the enterprise is from one who Vv'as a 
member of the Conference and watched it through all its stages: 

The first missionaries were the Rev. John Honou.r, and the Rev. Jolm H. 
Massey. As if to try the faith of tlie Cliurch, and test its power of self-sacrifice, 
John Honour, although a native of the low countries, took the bilious fever, 
through exposure in the swamps of his field of labor, and in September ended his 
mortal life and glorious work together, and entered into his rest. The operations 
of the first year gathered four hundred and seventeen Church-members, Foot- 
hold was gained. The experiment, eyed with distrust by most of the planters, 
denounced by many as a hurtful innovation upon the established order of things, 
favored by very few, was commenced. The noble-hearted gentlemen who went 
forward in the movement were in advance of their time, and could not but feel that 
they had assumed a heavy responsibility in indorsing for the beneficial results of 
such an undertaking. Of course they watched the developments of the afiair 
with no small solicitude. As far as it went the first year it was perfectly satisfac- 
tory. The second year the membership on these missions more than doubled 
itself. Incredibly small, however, was the treasure-chest of the Missionary Soci- 
ety. The sum of two hundred and sixty-one dollars was reported to the Annual 
Conference as the aggregate of the collections for the year 1830. The following 
year another of the ministers of the Conference was added to the small but brave 
forlorn-hope. The oral instruction of tiie little negroes, by Catechism, was com- 
menced; two hundred and fifty of these were placed^ under the care of the mis- 
sionaries, and nine hundred and seventy-two Church-members were reported. 
At the ensuing session of the Conference, held at Darlington early in 1832, a de- 
cided and memorable impulse was given to the missionary spirit, particularly 
among the preachers, by a speech delivered at the anniversary of the Missionary 
Society, by the Rev. (now Bishop) James O. Andrew. After the usual prepara- 
tory exercises, he was introduced to the meeting, and read the following resolu- 
tion: "That, while we consider false views of religion as being every way mischiev- 
ous, and judge from the past that much evil has resulted from that cause among 
the slave population of this country, we are fully persuaded that it is not only 
safe, but highly expedient to society at large, to furnish the slaves as fully as pos- 
sible with the means of true scriptural instruction and the worship of God." We 
have heard many good and clever speeches in our time, a few withal that de- 
served to be called great, but foremost in our recollection stands the remarkable 
speech made by Bishop Andrew on that occasion. He drew a picture of the irre- 
ligious, neglected plantation negro, Claude-like in the deptli of its tone and color. 
He pointed out his degradation, rendered but the deeper and darker from the fit- 
ful and transient flashings up of desires which felt after God — scintillations of the 
immortal, blood-bought spirit within him, which ever and again gleamed amidst 
the darkness of his untutored mind. He pointed out the adaptation of the gospel 
to the extremest cases. Its recovering poAver and provisions were adequate to tlie 



586 



History of MefJwdism. 



task of saving from sin and hell all men of all conditions of life, in all stages of 
civilization. He pointed lo the converted negro, the noblest prize of the gospel, 
the most unanswerable proof of its efficiency. There he was, mingling his morn- 
ing song with the matin chorus of the birds, sending up his orisons to God under 
the light of the evening-star, contented with his lot, cheerful in his labors, sub- 
missive for conscience' sake to plantation discipline, happy in life, hopeful in 
death, and from his lowly cabin carried at last by the angels to Abraham's bosom. 
"Who could resist such an appeal, in which argument was fused in fervid elo- 
quence? The speech carried by storm the whole assembly. 

At the close of 1832 tliere were reported as members of the mission-family 
thirteen hundred and ninety-five souls, and four hundred and ninety children 
were regularly catechised. The experiment had been going on for four years. 
The theory of religious instruction for the blacks had been ]}ut to practical tests, 
had been watched in its matter-of-fact tendencies, had borne some fruit, and the 
earliest sheaves gave distinct promise of the coming liarvest. An influential gen- 
tleman, who had witnessed on a large plantation of his own the successful results 
of religious instruction communicated through the means of the missionary organ- 
ization, sent a complimentary letter to the Missionary Board, with a solicitation 
in behalf of a number of his friends in Beaufort that the missionaries should be 
sent to them. A respectable meeting of planters was held in Saint Luke's Parish 
on the subject of the religious instruction of the blacks, and the missionary system 
was advocated and adopted. The time for enlargement was come. It Avas found 
that the preaching of the gospel, with the characteristic simplicity and earnestness 
of the Metliodist ministry, not only was understood by the negroes, and took Avell 
with them, but that, combined Avith the regular discipline of the Church, it joro- 
duced a distinct and observable improvement in their moral character and habits, 
making them sober, honest, industrious, and contented. These were phases of 
character which overseers and proprietors, hoAvever unskilled in divinity and in- 
different to points of theological subtlety and dispute, could judge of as Avell as a 
college of cardinals or a synod of Churchmen. And prejudice crumbled aAvay 
piecemeal. Doubt and distrust brightened into approval. Confidence in the sys- 
tem took the place of opposition, and the friends of missions gave God j)raise and 
took courage as the door of access to these thousands of Africa's children Avas 
opened Avider and Avider.'^ 

The zeal of Soutli Carolina proyokecl many, and the work so 
auspiciously begun was taken up by other Conferences and car- 
ried forward with success. In other States the planters became 
earnest friends of the missions to the slaves, and contributed 
largely to their support. At the before-mentioned anniversary 
of the Missionary Society, January, 1832, the board of managers, 
submitting their report, say: 

The mission on the Santee numbers upAvard of tliree hundred members of the 
Church in regular and good standing. A considerable number of the slaves ]iave 
been baptized during the past year. There is an evident improvement among the 



*Rev. (afterward Bisho])) W. M. AVightmao, D.I)., in Southern Quarterly licvicio. 



Groidh of Confidence and Enlargewent. 



587 



negroes, both as regards the number who attend the means of grace and the sol- 
emn attention given to the word preached. 

The negroes served on the Savannah Eiver Mission [by the Eev. James Dan- 
nelly] being found convenient to meeting-houses, it has been judged expedient to 
throw that mission into the regular work of the circuit. 

The mission on Combahee, Pon Pon, and Wappahoola, has had an increase the 
last year of two hundred and thirty members, making the aggregate number of 
members six hundred and seventy. Upward of one hundred little negroes receive 
catechetical instruction, one hundred and twenty-eight have been baptized, and 
the missionary expresses his conviction that the religious experience of the blacks 
is deeper, and their deportment more becoming, every year. 

Guided by experience and cheered by success, we come to bind ourselves afresh 
to tliis holy work, and to renew the solemn obligations which the enterprise of 
negro instruction and salvation imposes on us. Into this long-neglected field of 
danger, reproach, and toil we again go forth, bearing the precious seed of salva- 
tion. And to the protection and blessing of the God of missions our cause is con- 
fidently and devoutly commended. 

In 1833 two additional mission stations were established. In 
1834 they numbered six, in 1835 eight, in 1836 nine, in 1837 ten. 

In tlie tenth year of its operations the missionary ground of 
the Society embraced two hundred and thirty-four plantations, 
served by seventeen missionaries, under the general supervision 
of three superintendents. These missionaries preached at nine- 
ty-seven appointments, and had under their regular pastoral 
charge 5,556 Church-members, to whom they preached and ad- 
ministered the sacraments and discipline of the Church. And 
they had under catechetical instruction 2,525 negro children.* 

These results are separate from the negro membership distrib- 
uted in smaller numbers through the upper country, and more ac- 
cessible by the regular pastors. The Kentucky Conference, which 
reported in 1846 but one mission to the colored people, numbered 
among its regular communicants 9,479 of this class ; and the Hol- 
ston Conference made a report of no mission, but reckoned a col- 
ored membership of 4,133. The rule laid down by the South 
Carolina Board (auxiliary to the parent Society), and obtaining 
elsewhere, is expressed in one of their early reports: 

That, as a general rule for our circuits and stations, we deem it best to include 
the colored people in the same pastoral charge with the whites, and to preach to 
both classes in one congregation, as our practice has been. The gospel is the same 
for all men, and to enjoy its privileges in common promotes good-will. 

That at all preaching-places where galleries or other suitable sittings have not 



-Shipp's Histor}' of Methodism in South Carolina (pages 450-^65), in which reports are 
published in full. Each Annual Conference had an auxiliary Missionary Society. 



588 



History of Methodism. 



been provided for tlie colored people, or where the galleries or other sittings are 
insufficient, we consider it the duty of our brethren and friends to provide the 
necessary accommodation, that none may make sucli a neglect a plea for absenting 
themselves from public Avorsliip. 

Colored local preachers were used and were useful in promot- 
ing the religious welfare of their race. Eev. William Capers 
alv/ays had a corps of them about him in excellent training, 
wlierever he was stationed. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, he 
found a remarkable one: 

I have knovrn, and loved, and honored not a few negroes in my life who Avere 
probably as pure of heart as Evans, or anybody else. Such ^vere my old friends 
Castile Selby and John Boquet, of Charleston; "Will Campbell and Harry Myrick, 
of Wilmington; York Cohen, of Savannah; and others I might name. These I 
might call remarkable for their goodness. But I use the word in a broader 
sense for Henry Evans, v.'lio was confessedly the best preacher of his time in 
that quarter, and who was so remarkable as to have become the greatest curiosity 
of the town, insomuch that distinguished visitors hardly felt that they niiglit pass 
a Sunday in Fayetteville without hearing him preach. Evans was from A'^ir- 
ginia — a shoe-maker.* 

By this agency much evangelizing was done in Charleston, 
and not only in the city where the black membership was to the 
white as five to one, but on the nearest plantations. , Dr. Capers 
says: "We had belonging to the Church in Charleston (1811), 
as if raised up for the exigencies of the time, some extraordinary 
colored men. I have mentioned Castile Selby; there v\'ere also 
Amos Baxter, Tom Smith, Peter Simpson, Smart Simpson, Harry 
Bull, Bichard Holloway, Aleck Harlston, and others, men of in- 
telligence and piety, who read the Scriptures and understood 
them, and were zealous for religion among the negroes." f 

In November, 1854, a few months before the death of the 
founder of missions to the slaves, the Conference Missionary 
Board made a report which speaks of the opening prospect, and 
tiUudes to what has been done: 

Twenty-six years ago the South Carolina Conference began a system of regular 
ecclesiastical operations among the plantation negroes of the low country, by es- 
tablishing two missions. At present there are twenty-six missionary stations, on 
which are emploj'ed thirty-two ministers, who are supported by the Society. The 
number of Church-members is 11,546, including 1,175 whites. The missionary 
revenue has risen from |300 to $25,000. These are the material results, so far as 
statistics are concerned. They call for devout acknowledgments to God, who has 

Autobiography of William Capers; and Biography by Dr. Wiglitman. tlbid. 



Moral Heroes Without Monuments. 



589 



given us abundant favor in the sight of the community in carrying on a line of 
operations confessedly difHcult and delicate. 

The testimony of masters and missionaries goes to show that a wholesome effect 
has been produced upon the character of the negro population generally. A 
change for the better is visible everywhere, wlien the present generation is con- 
trasted witli the past ; and in how many cases tlie gospel has proved the poAver of 
God to salvation, and presented before the throne the spirits of these children of 
- Ham redeemed and washed by " the blood of sprinkling," and fitted for an abode 
in heaven, tlie revelations of the last day will disclose. 

The singing was wonderful, and the cateclietical instruction of 
youth and children, and of the congregations, was helped by 
Capers's Catechisms (No, 1 and No. 2), prepared expressly for 
this purpose, though they obtained a wider circulation. There 
was no romance here; it was in the highest degree a work of 
faith, demanding the patience of hope and the labor of love; and 
some of the best preachers of Southern Methodism spent their 
best days at it, as Charles Wilson, ~\Y. C. Kirkland, G. W. Moore, 
J. K. Coburn, R. J. Boyd, Buncli, Ledbetter, Turpin, and Eush. 

It grew. On the sugar and rice fields lying upon the Gulf 
of Mexico, and in the vast cotton plantations of the Mississippi 
Delta and its lower tributaries, this missionary system was the 
light and life of hundreds of thousands of "the servile prog- 
eny of Ham." Eight-minded masters welcomed the missiona- 
ries, thankfully accepting such aid in discharging their own ob- 
ligations to their dependents. Many built chapels, and not only 
countenanced them by their personal attendance during winter 
residence and transient visits, but contributed liberally to the 
funds of the Society; others tolerated preaching, at the expense 
of the Society ; and yet others Avere obnoxious to the woe of them 
who neither enter the kingdom of heaven themselves nor suffer 
others to enter in. Agreeable surprises sometimes awaited a 
missionary on entering dark places of this sort which by debt, 
or death, or other influence, had been providentially opened — a 
society, rudely organized, was there before him, with its stated 
times of Avorship, its rules, and its members. By purchase or 
partition of estates, or by immigration, a religious negro or family 
of negroes was thrown, like leaven, into an ignorant mass of his 
fellow-beings, and became a source of instruction and a center 
of life which took form and grew, even under unpropitious sur- 
roundings. One missionary to such a sugar plantation in Lou- 
isiana found over thirty "members: " he had these to begin with. 



590 



History of Methodism. 



Methodism lias yenturecl every thing -apon the evangelical 
maxim, "The Lord will take care of the Church that takes care of 
his poor." It suffered a drain on its resources when sending the 
gospel to the wandering Indian tribes and to the servile progeny 
of Ham; and in certain localities a social discount was endured. 
One of the best witnesses (Dr. Capers, so late as 1854) who be- 
stowed much labor on a congregation where the black element 
preponderated and, in a certain sense, had to be carried by the 
white, has left this testimony: 

Under all the obloquy cast upon them the Methodists were, nevertlieless, much 
esteemed. Their preaching might be attended witli great 2)roprietT, for almost 
everybody did so, but who might join them? No, it was vastly more resj^ectable 
to join some other Church, and still attend the preaching of the Methodists, 
Avhich was thought to answer all purposes. And this has been the case long since 
the year I am speaking of The persons of that year whom I can call to mind 
have gone to their account; and yet I hesitate not to say that if all the individuals 
who have joined other Churches in that city since 1811, professing to have been 
awakened under the Methodist ministry, had joined the Cliurch where God met 
them, the Methodist Church in Charleston might have ranked in worldly respects 
witli the very first, before this day. 

The rich claim whatever they w^ant, even a fashionable cliurch 
and a palatable gospel; they can pay for it! But "the Spirit 
of the Lord God " must be upon a man — he must be " anointed — 
who preaches the gospel to the j^oor. In 1845 Southern Meth- 
odism had gathered into Church-membership one hundred and 
twenty-four thousand of the slave population ; in the fifteen j^ears 
following, that number had increased to two hundred and seven 
thousand, exclusive of catechumens. 

Frequent references are made in the reports of laborers in • 
this field to the "delicacy" as well the difficulty of their work. 
Their access to the slave population at one end of the Union was 
constantly liable to be restricted or cut off on account of intem- 
perate speech or action at the other end, and that too by people 
professing to be friends of the slave, but far removed from the 
scene, and bearing no part in the perils, reproaches, and sac- 
rifices of those who were seeking his spiritual welfare. 



CHAPTER XL. 

James O. Andrew — John Emory — Foreign Missions Inaugurated — Liberia — 
Brazil — Coxe — Pitts — Education — Colleges: Randolph Macon; La Grange; 
Dickinson; VVilbraham; Madison; Alleghany — J. P, Durbin — Thomas A. 
Morris — Death of McKendree: Taking Leave of his Brethren. 

THE General Conference of 1832 met in the city of Pliiladel- 
pliia. One disturbing element having withdrawn from the 
Church, and the other being weak or quiet, the session was re- 
markably harmonious. James O. Andrew, of the Georgia, and 
John Emory, of the Baltimore Conference, were elected Bishops.'" 
J ames Osgood Andrew was the son of John Andrew, the first 
native Georgian who had joined the traveling ministry. James 
was somewhat reluctantly licensed to preach by the Quarterly 
Conference. Preachers were needed, and the Annual Conference, 
0 on the indorsement of his presiding elder, Lovick Pierce, who 
had brought up his recommendation from the Broad Eiver Cir- 
cuit, received him on trial (1812) and he was sent as second man 
on the Saltkahatchee Circuit, in Barnwell District, South Caro- 
lina. A friend mounted him on a pony, and he set out from his 
humble Georgia home for the east side of Savannah River. ' His 
opportunities for education had been limited to the "old-field 
school." He had never seen the world, or been a day's journey 
from home, but he had been converted, he had strong common 
sense, and he felt moved by the Holy Spirit to preach. The 
itinerancy, with the study and prayer and work that are in it, de- 
veloped him. ^ From circuit to circuit he went in Georgia and the 
two Carolinas, under judicious presiding elders, then to Charles- 
ton, Wilmington, Columbia, and Augusta. From the last station 
he went up to General Conference where, at thirty-eight years of 
age, he began to serve the Church on a wider scale. William 
McKendree was going out as James O. Andrew went into the office. 
After his election he asked the senior for the guiding rule which 
had made his own administration so successful. He gave him 
this: "James, do not seek responsibility, but never shun a re- 
sponsibility that propeifly belongs to you; for in doing so you 
assume the gravest of all responsibilities." 

■^'They were elected on the first ballot — the former by a vote of 140, tlie latter 
by 135, out of 223 votes cast. 

(5^1) 



692 



History of Methodism. 



Mary Cosby, his mother, was a woman of rare soul-refine- 
ment and power; and among the daughters of a Scotch merchant 
in Charleston he found a good wife — Amelia McFarland — who 
by her needle and school-keeping eked out the income of the 
parsonage* and encouraged her husband to continue in the ranks. 
He became a man of first-rate ability in the pulpit, wise in counsel, 
and a rich contributor to the periodical press. It was his invidi- 
ous and peculiar lot to be the center of a historic strife, in the 
midst of which his self-poise never failed, and the gentleness 
and strength of his character were strikingly displayed. 

Bishop Emory never met another General Conference. Early 
one December morning in 1835, he left his home, which was 
near the city, for Baltimore. A few hours after, having been 
thrown from his carriage, he was found dying on the road. A 
small man, never weighing over one hundred and twenty pounds, 
he was a giant in mental and moral stature, and though he died 
young, he lived long enough to impress himself on Methodism. 

Like a ship keeping in sight of shore and cautiously coasting, 
the Missionary Society — guided by Dr. Bangs, who without charge 
acted as secretary — had confined its work to the Indian tribes and 
destitute settlements. The receipts of the first year were 1823.04, 
and in thirteen years they crawled up to $17,097.05. The year 
following, under the stimulus of a new mission enterprise to the 
Oregon Indians, they suddenly rose to twice this figure. It 
v/as time to venture out, and the Society proposed, with the 
sanction of the General Conference, to plant its standard on the 
coast of Africa, and send agents to Mexico and South America 
to ascertain the feasibility of missions in those countries. 

Mellville B. Coxe, a native of Maine, thirty-two years old, and 
stationed in Baleigh, North Carolina, was a reserve delegate to 
this General Conference. He volunteered to go as a missionary 
to Liberia, on the western coast of Africa, and was accepted. 
In mind and heart he seemed admirably adapted to this enter- 
prise, while some thought his constitution too frail for it. Great 
admiration and much sympathy were excited in his behalf. To 
Bishop McKendree he said on receiving the appointment: "At 
present I am in peace. Death looks pleasant to me, life looks 
pleasant to me, labor and sufierings look pleasant to me, and 
last, though not least, Liberia looks pleasant to me. I see, or 
think I see, resting on Africa, the light and cloud of heaven." 



Africa and Brazil. 



593 



March, 1833, lie arrived in Liberia. He found many members, 
class-leaders, and preachers, whom the Colonization Society had 
carried out, and organized them into a branch of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He planned three missions, and an academy 
at Monrovia. But in less than five months from the 1;ime of his 
arrival he died, prescribing as his epitaph, " Let a thousand fall 
before Africa be given up." Twenty-five white missionaries died 
of the climate, or fled from it with ruined health, in seventeen 
years. Only four colored preacliers died in the same time. 

In 1835 Bishop Andrew appointed the Rev. Fountain E. Pitts, 
of the Tennessee Conference, on a missionary exploration to 
Brazil and South America. Sailing from Baltimore in June, he 
reached Bio Janeiro in August of that year. His reception, by 
foreigners and natives, was encouraging, and he commenced his 
ministerial labors in some half dozen private houses in that great 
city — the first Methodist preacher that ever preached the king- 
dom of God in that division of the New World. He formed a 
Methodist Society, and promised to send them a pastor as early 
as possible. Thence he sailed to Montevideo, at the mouth of 
the Eio de la Plata. Here he preached for some weeks and 
formed a Society. On board of a steamer he ascended the La 
Plata, to the city of Buenos Ayres, the special field of his desti- 
nation. After an absence of twelve months he reached home. 
In consequence of his reports, efforts were made in Brazil. Rev. 
Justin Spaulding was sent to Rio Janeiro, but the effort was not 
successful; the land was not yet freed from Romish intolerance. 
Forty years afterward Methodism got a foothold in the capital 
and interior of that empire. The occupation of Buenos Ayres 
has been continued since 1836, when Dr. Dempster went out. 
For many years the work of the mission was confined chiefly to 
English-speaking persons, but the work gradually reached the 
Spanish population, and there is in later days a favorable report, 
especially in Montevideo, and in the interior of Uruguay. 

During this qiiadrenniiim began a remarkable movement 
among the German population which has since assumed large 
proportions. We have seen Henry Boehm ^' going the rounds 

* Henry Boehm died in 1875, over a hundred years old. His father, Martin 
Boehm, and William Otterbein were the first bishops elected by ''The Church 
of the United Brethren in Christ." The relations of this Church to Methodism 
have been, from the beginning, very fraternal. 
38 



594 



Histonj of Methodism. 



with Bishop Asbury and preaching to a thrifty, intelligent, and 
increasing element of American citizens in their own language. 
At one place in the West he says: 

On Thursday we fired three guns in quick succession. Bishop Asbury preaclied 
first, then Daniel Hitt, without any intermission, and as soon as he sat do'.vn I 
preached in German. There was a good number of Germans present (many of 
them Lutherans) Avho were permitted to sit near the stand and liear in their ovrn 
tongue the Avonderful works of God. They Vvcre delighted. They liad supposed 
the difference in the effect of Methodist preaching from that of their own minis- 
isters was in tlie language. They thought the English expressed the gospel bet- 
ter. But when the power of God came upon tlie people, and tears flowed down 
many clieeks under German preaching, they were convinced the difference was 
not in i\\e language, but in the manner of communication ; the one formal, the 
other spiritual. 

About 1835 appeared in Ohio a young German scholar, of 
thorough but rationalistic education, who had been reclaimed 
by Methodism to the faith of the Reformation — William Nast. 
He labored for some time among his countrymen in Cincinnati, 
under the direction and by the aid of the Missionary Society; 
and in the next annual report of the Society the "German Mis- 
sion" and the name of its founder were first declared to the 
Church. German Methodism rapidly extended in the North-west, 
and to New Orleans and Texas in the South-west, and German 
Methodist churches, circuits, districts, were organized. 

The connection between Methodism and the great Reformer's 
countrymen is interesting. It was while John Wesley listened 
to the reading of Luther's expository writings that he was con- 
verted. Before that he was awakened and put on the right path 
by Bohler, in London, and Spangenburg, in Savannah. Asbury 
insisted on having Otterbein join in his episcopal consecration. 
And among the Germans in Europe and America are found some 
of the best exemplars of primitive Wesleyanism. 

The delegated body was becoming too large; the ratio of repre- 
sentation must be reduced, and the Annual Conferences had been 
requested by the General Conference of 1824 so to change the 
second Restrictive Rule as to allow a representation of not less 
than one for every twenty-one, instead of one for every seven. 
According to the constitution it required the consent of every 
Annual Conference to enact such a measure, and it was lost. A 
more general measure was brought forward subsequently. The 
conventional body of 1808 was so tenacious of the restrictions 



Constitutional Change — Education. 



595 



placed upon the delegated body wliich Avas to succeed it, it enact- 
ed that they should be altered only by a majority of two-thirds of 
the General Conference, on the joint recommendation of all the 
Annual Conferences. This made a change very difficult; tho 
smallest Conference, by one vote, could defeat the whole Con- 
nection in securing any object. After various efforts the Annual 
Conferences consented not only to alter the ratio of delegation, 
but gave their consent that all the restrictions, except the first, 
shall be subject to alteration upon the recommendation of two- 
thirds of the General Conference, when three-fourths of all the 
members of the several Annual Conferences v/ho shall be present 
and vote concur therein. Thus has the constitution stood since 
1832. The first restriction, which guards doctrines, remains as 
it was originally; so that change, under it, with the present 
number of Conferences, is barely not impossible. 

About tliis time there was an enlargement of facilities for high- 
er education under the influence and auspices of the Church. 
Randolph Macon College, at. Boydton, Virginia — Dr. Olin, pres- 
ident; and La Grange College, La Grange, Alabama — Dr. Paine, 
president, were opened under the patronage of the Southern and 
South-western Conferences. The property of Dickinson College, 
at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was proffered to the Baltimore and 
Philadelphia Conferences on certain conditions, which tliey ac- 
cepted; and this institution, begun in 1783, passed under the pat- 
ronage of Methodism. Dr. Durbin was president. 

In 1830 Bishop McKendree made a donation of valuable lands 
to Lebanon Seminary, twenty- five miles east of St. Louis, an in- 
stitution founded by the Illinois Conference, of which the Eev. E. 
P. Ames was principal. Its name was changed to McKendree 
College, and a charter obtained in 1834 — the Eev. Peter Akers, 
D.D., being its first president. 

In 1827 the Pittsburg Conference, desiring to establish a col- 
lege, received the offer of an academy in Uniontown, Pennsylva- 
nia, and it w^as opened under the title of "Madison College." 
Dr. Bascom was its first president, and Dr. Charles Elliott pro- 
fessor. In 1833 Alleghany College, which had been established 
at Meadville, was tendered to the Conference and accepted, and 
the institution at Uniontown was remoA^ed to that place. . 

In 1830 a building in Middletown, Connecticut, owned by a 
literary institution, was offered to the New England Conference 



Uistoru oj Meilioclism. 



on condition of its raising $40,000 for endowment. The offer 
was accepted, and Dr. \Yilbur Fisk, wdio had charge of Wilbra- 
ham Academy, was elected president, and removed to Middletown. 
Thus the "AVesleyan University" began, under the patronage 
of the New York and New England Conferences. 

This was an educational outfit that began to be felt at once 
for good upon the Church and country. The direct influence in 
fostering Christian education w^as hardly greater than the indi- 
rect influence in reforming or holding in check the State colleges 
and universities, some of which had become godless and corrupt- 
ing to an alarming extent. The lack of endowment was a sore 
evil, and these institutions struggled under* embarrassments 
which all did not survive. Tuition fees were unequal to their 
demands and unsteady, and the Church w^as slow to realize the 
conditions of permanent success; but while trustees were per- 
plexed, and agents were exercised, and professors w^ere stinted, 
educated men were sent forth to teach and to preach, to mold 
public opinion and promote public improvements; and the re- 
turn influence was in time to help the most persistent survivors, 
or to establish others on a better foundation. 

At the session of 1832 a large number of petitions were pre- 
sented asking an amendment of the Discipline on the subject of 
temperance so as to make the law more stringent, but no decided 
action was taken in this direction. 

The population moving westward, there was -a demand for a 
w^estern periodical, and the General Conference authorized the 
establishment of the Western Christian Advocate, of which Thomas 
A. Morris was elected editor. John P. Durbin was elected ed- 
itor of the Christian Advocate and Journal. 

In the last year of his effective ministry (about 1818) that 
man of blessed memory in the West — Benjamin Lakin — received 
into the Church a coaple of lads in Bourbon county, Kentacky, 
who were destined to long and eminent usefulness. One was 
apprenticed to a cabinet-maker in the village of Paris, and the 
other to a printer. John P. Durbin made "cases" from which 
Hubbard H. Kavanaugh set type; and pieces of furniture — his 
handiwork — are yet preserved among friends of the family. 
Both went into the ministry before they Avere twenty years old. 
Durbin fell into the Ohio Conference, and his first circuit there 
took him alone into the north-west corner of the State, "where 



Seeking Education Under Difficulties. 



597 



the Indians still roved, to look after some one hundred members 
of the Church who were scattered through the wilderness over a 
circuit of two hundred miles." In the narrow cabins of the new 
settlers he made himself acquainted with Wesley's and Fletcher's 
works ; or, wdien weather permitted, after preaching and the class- 
meeting were over, he betook himself to the groves for study. 
Next year his circuit was in Indiana, and there, at the instance 
and by the help of his colleague, J, Collard, he was inducted 
into English grammar; after which Dr. Ruter advised him to 
try Latin and Greek, furnishing him the primers. All this 
time the young preacher was making his mark in preaching, his 
cares and studies being drawn that way. There was something 
in him that held his audience by a strange spell. Stationed the 
next year in Hamilton, Ohio, about twelve miles from Miami 
University, he attended the university through the week, pursu- 
ing his studies, and returned on Friday to prepare for the pul- 
pit. At first this caused some dissatisfaction among the people; 
but when they sav\^ his thirst for knowledge, and his fidelity and 
efficiency during three days of the week, and reflected, perhaps, 
that while they were losing a small per cent, of his services 
for one year, he was laying the foundation to increase the value 
of his services to the whole Church fifty per cent, for the re- 
maining years of his life, they had the good sense to approve 
his course. The next year he was stationed in Lebanon, and 
still pushed his studies. His next appointment Vv^as in Cincin- 
nati, where he was admitted to the Cincinnati College. Here he 
finished his collegiate course and was admitted to the degree of 
A.M. After taking his degree he was appointed Professor of 
Languages in Augusta College. Traveling eastward to collect 
funds for the college, he first became known in the pulpits there. 
A genuine light from the West rose upon them, and the East re- 
tained him. In 1831, in his absence, the Senate of the United 
States elected him chaplain. His sermons in the capitol were 
memorable. In 18S2 he was elected Professor of Natural Sciences 
in the Wesleyan University, Connecticut, but resigned upon being 
elected editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal. This posi- 
tion he vacated in 1834 to take the presidency of Dickinson Col- 
lege, where he gathered around him a faculty of rare power and 
learning. By travel abroad he was still more enlarged. Un- 
promising in appearance — unless looked at closely; addicted 



jaistory oj ivmnoaism. 



to drawling exordiums and overwhelming perorations; such, 
in part, was John P. Durbin. Those who could not define his 
power felt and acknowledged it willingly. Great in executive 
alnlity as well as in speech, he would surely have been at the head 
o£ the cabinet-making business had not the Lord called him to 
something else. He did not display his full capacity for affairs, 
however, nntil as Missionary Secretary he came to the directory 
of a world-wide enterprise for the salvation of souls. 

Thomas A. Morris, who was put at the helm of the Western 
l^aper at the same time Durbin took a similar position in the East, 
vras born in Kanawha county, Yirginia, in 1796. He says: 

•Julv, 1S13, while I listened to David Young preaching at a camp-meeting, on 
tiie parable of the sower, I was brought to form a solemn purpose to seek earnestly 
for salvation till I should obtain it. In August I joined a small country class on 
trial. I had prayed in secret for montlis, but made little progress till I took this 
decisive step, and thus drew a separating line from my irreligious associates. The 
conflict with sin thus renewed continued till some time in November, when I ob- 
tained some relief and comfort, and on Christmas-day I received a clear sense of 
pardon and a full ''spirit of adoption." In the meantime I missed none of I)avid 
YMiing,; qnarterly-meetings. At one of them he baptized me in the presence of 
a multitude, and the same day on which he poured the water on my head the 
Lord poured plentifully liis Spirit into my heart. 

Reared in a rural district of a new country, amid agricultural pursuits, 1 was in- 
ured to toils and perils, whicli have been of service to me in every relation of 
subsequent life. '"'By grace I am vrhat I am." An experience of over fifty years 
confirms my conviction tliat in Christ alone are pardon, peace, and heaven. 

In 1816 he began to preach through Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Yirginia, and Ohio, and was quietly, steadily useful. The firm- 
ness of conscious rectitude and the meekness of wisdom were 
blended in him, and in all the relations which he bore to the 
Church a healthful infiuence went out from him. He was given 
to clear, short sermons abruptly concluded. 

Bishop McKendree's last Conference (Lebanon, Tennessee) 
closed Nov. 14, 1834,''' and he preached his last sermon in Mc- 
Kendree Church, Xashville, on Sunday, Nov. 23. In the course 
of the next month he reached his brother's residence in Sumner 
county, -under a presentiment that his end was near, and in ac- 
cordance with a long-cherished wish to die at home and be 

'-^In the same county (Wilson, Tennessee), and near the same place (Liberty 
Hill) where he held his first Conference (in 1808), he held Li^:; and witldn a 
few miles, in the same county, is Bethlehem, where, in ISlo, Bi.-hop Asbury held 
his last Conference. 



Bishop McKendree Takes Leave, 



599 



buried there. His father and brother had removed from Vir- 
ginia several years before, and resided at Fountain Head, about 
a day's journey north of Nashville. Bodily infirmities, which 
had been held at bay by the resistance of a strong will, novv^ 
rushed upon him, bowed under the weight of seventy-eight 
years. A favorite sister who, like himself, lived and died un- 
married and seemed to live for God and her brother, waited up- 
on him, and watched by his bedside unceasingly. Once awak- 
ing from slumber in the night he looked at her and his nieces, 
sitting by his bed, and said, with a smile: "You are like a lamp — 
burning while I sleep, to cheer me when I wake." 

On Sunday before his death his brother, the doctor, said to 
him: "Bishop, you are sinking fast; v/e shall, in all probability, 
soon be separated." He replied: "Yes, I know it; but all is 
well." He made a signal that he wished to speak. To his neph- 
ew, leaning over to receive his communication, he said: "All is 
well for time or for eternity. I live by faith in the Son of God." 
In his most emphatic manner he repeated: "I wish that matter 
to be perfectly understood — that all is well with me, whether I 
live or die. For two months I have not had a cloud to darken 
my sky. I have had uninterrupted confidence in my Saviour's 
love." He was fond of the phrase, "All is well." To inquiries 
as to the state of his soul, this was his usual reply. It was, in- 
deed, his last connected expression, although the last word was 
"Yes," in answer to the question asked him Avhile dying, "Is all 
well He died March 5th, and was buried in the family 

grave-yard, by the side of his father."^^ 

The reader has taken knowledge of the first native American 
bishop as providentially suited to the constitutional era of the 
Church. Though keenly alive to the personal alienations and 
the conflicts which befell him, he lived to see both its doctrines 
and polity under the protection of fundamental law. The ready- 
coined reproach — love of power — moved him not while he met 
the responsibility of his time and station. He appreciated the 

* Forty years afterward, Avhen the changes of time and the desolations of war 
had turned the old homestead into a ruin, and the large stone, with its full but 
rudely cut epitaph was thrown down, and the grave was in a way soon to be lost 
sight of, the remains of Bishop McKendree were disinterred, and placed, with 
Bishop Soule's, in the campus of Yanderbilt University. A granite monument 
marks the spot where the tAvo rest together — Cavalier and Puritan. 



relation of good goyernment to a pure religion; and in govern- 
ment, he understood tlie relation of its part3. He saw the 
missionary epoch inaugurated, at home and abroad. The edu- 
cational advance came in his day. "The last letter," says his 
biographer, then at the head of one of the rising institutions of 
the South, "the last letter I ever received from him, and not long- 
previous to his death, contained fifty dollars for La Grange 
College. The liandvvTiting detected the giver. No appeal had 
been made to him, yet out of his annual pittance he was prompted 
by his interest in the cause of education to make the donation, 
and tried to conceal the donor. His special object was that the 
money should be applied to place in the college library the 
standard religious literature of the Church, for the instruction 
and benefit of the students." 

It is not beneath the dignity of the subject, in illustrating 
character, to add that, like other itinerants, he had a kind feel- 
ing for his horse. Asbury admired his sure-footed Fox as he 
nobly breasted a mountain torrent. Soule took Hero from the 
turf, believing that blood vrould tell; and how many continental 
rounds he made on him it might sound marvelous to say. And 
McKendree did not forget "Old Gray," a horse as well known 
to thousands as his master. They had become superannuated 
together, and he bequeathed moiie}'- sufficient out of his savings 
to furnish the venerable roadster, nearing thirty years, with 
XDlenty of food, a good stable, and a bluegrass pasture for life. 

Members are gathering at Cincinnati for the General Con- 
ference, and many will remember the manner of Bishop Mc- 
Kendree's leave-taking in 1832, described by one who saw it: 

His last visit to tlie Conference was made the day before the adjournment. 
Having remained as long as his strength Avould allow, he arose to retire. He "svas 
but too conscious of his approaching dissolution to expect ever to meet his breth- 
ren again in another General Conference. Leaning on his staff, his once tall and 
manly form now bent with age and infirmity, his eyes suffused vritli tears, his 
voice faltering with emotion, he exclaimed, " Let all things be done without strife 
or vainglory, and try to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of jieace! My 
brethren and children, love one another." Then spreading forth his trembling 
hands and raising his eyes to lieaven, he pronounced, in faltering and affectionate 
accents, the apostolic benediction. Slowly and sadly he left the house to return 
no more. The whole assembly rose and stood till he disappeared. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



The Straggle and Defeat of Abolitionism in tlie Church — Presiding Elders in the 
Conflict — General Conference Refuses to Change the Discipline — Restates the 
Position — Despairing to Accomplish their Purpose, Abolitionists Secede — The 
AVesleyan Methodist Church Organized — Peace and Prosperity. 

THE meeting of the General Conference (May, 1836) in Cin- 
cinnati presented a reduced delegation but a very able body. 
The death of two and the infirm health of three bishops made 
the strengthening of the episcopacy necessary, and near the 
close of -the session Beverly Waugh, then Book Agent at New 
York, a native of Fairfax county, Yirginia, and Wilbur Fisk, 
were elected. After several ballotings, Thomas A. Morris vras 
also chosen. Dr. Fisk was then absent in Europe, and on his 
return declined accepting the office, believing it to be his duty 
to remain President of the Wesleyan University.^ 

The Missionary Society now^ took its position as one of tha 
great departments of the Church, and Dr. Nathan Bangs was 
elected Secretary, with a salary and no other work to do. 

A familiar ghost reappeared. The report adopted shows how 
it fared— presented May 22 by the chairman, John Davis, a 
leading member of the Baltimore Conference: 

The committee to whom were referred sundry memorials from the jSTorth, pray- 
ing that certain rules on the subject of slavery, which formerly existed in our book 
of Discipline, should be restored, and that the General Conference take such 
measures as they may deem proper to free the Church from the evil of slavery, 
beg leave to report that they have had the subject under serious consideration, and 
are of opinion that the prayers of the memorialists cannot be granted, believing 
that it would be highly improper for the General Conference to take any action 
that would alter or change our rules on the subject of slavery. Your committee 
therefore respectfully submit the following resolution: 

Resolved, That it is inexpedient to make any change in our book of Discipline 
respecting slavery, and that we deem it improper further to agitate the subject in 
the General Conference at present. 

During the session of the Conference an anti-slavery meeting 
was held in the city, and two members attended and took part in 

*0n the first ballot 153 voters were present. Beverly Waugh obtained 85 
and Wilbur Fisk 78 votes. After balloting the sixth time, Thomas A. Morris 
obtained 86 votes. (General Conference Journal.) 

(601) 



msionj oj Metiioaism. 



the discussion. Whereupon their conduct was taken notice of 
in the following manner: 

Whereas great excitement has prevailed in this country on tlie subject of mod- 
ern abolitionism, which is reported to have been increased in this city recently by 
the unjustifiable conduct of two members of the General Conference, in lecturing 
upon and in favor of that agitating topic; and whereas such a course on the part 
of any of its members is calculated to bring upon this body the suspicions and dis- 
trust of the community, and misrepresent its sentiments in regard to the point at 
issue; and whereas in this aspect of the case, a due regard for its own character, 
as well as a just concern for the interests of the Church confided to its care, de- 
mand a full, decided, and unequivocal expression of the views of the General 
Conference in the premises: therefore. 

Resolved, by the delegates of the Annual Conferences in General Conference 
assembled. That they disapprove, in the most unqualified sense, the conduct of 
two members of the General Conference who are reported to have lectured in 
this city recently upon and in favor of modern abolitionism. 

Resolved, That they are decidedly opposed to modern abolitionism, and wholly 
disclaim any right, wish, or intention to interfere in the civil and political rela- 
tion between master and slave as it exists in the slave-holding States of this Union. 

The first resolution was adopted, one hundred and twenty-two 
voting in favor, and eleven against it. 

The second resolution was then read. An amendment was 
moved by Orange Scott, of New England, and after considerable 
debate the motion to amend was lost, one hundred and twenty- 
three 'against, and fourteen in favor of it. The resolution was 
again read, and a division of it called for. The first member of 
the resolution was adopted, one hundred and twenty in favor, 
and fourteen against it. On taking the question on the remain- 
ing part of the resolution, one hundred and thirty-seven voted in 
favor of it, and none in the opposition. The preamble w^as then 
read and adopted. 

David Young, of Ohio, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, 
to which was referred the complaints of certain local preachers 
in Lancaster county, Virginia — belonging to the Baltimore Con- 
ference — made a report. The complainants first invite the at- 
tention of the General Conference to the section of the Disci- 
pline Avliich states that " no slave-holder shall be eligible to any 
ofiicial station in our Church hereafter, when the laws of the 
State in which he lives will admit of emancipation and permit 
the liberated slave to enjoy freedom." They then produce an 
extract of the laws from the commonwealth of Virginia, show- 
ing their extreme rigor in this matter, and they allege that the 



Defining Position. 



603 



Conference has unjustly refused tliein ordination, because of 
slave -holding, as they deem their case to be precisely one of the 
exceptions to the general statute provided for in the Discipline. 

The committee refrain from judging the Baltimore Conference, 
not knowing all the grounds of action in dealing with the cases of 
certain slave-holding local preachers, and conclude thus: "Hav- 
ing said this mach respecting the alleged grounds of grievance, 
your committee agree in the opinion that the exceptions to the 
general rule in the Discipline, referred to by the petitioners, 
clearly apply to official members of the Church in Virginia, ac- 
cording to the laws of the commonwealth, and do therefore pro- 
tect them against a forfeiture of their official standing on account 
of said rule." The report was adopted. 

If any thing else were necessary to define the position of Meth- 
odism, it was furnished in the Pastoral Address. On motion 
of S. G. Rozell, of the Baltimore Conference, the committee ap- 
pointed to draft it were formally instructed "to take notice of the 
subject of modern abolition, that has so seriously agitated the dif- 
erent parts of our country, and that they let our preachers, mem- 
bers, and friends know that the General Conference is opposed to 
the agitation of that subject, and will use all prudent means to 
put it down." And these instructions were followed. 

This session was noteworthy for the amount of well-digested 
legislation on the Book Concern, the revised constitution of the 
Missionary Society, the order of Church courts in the trial of 
preachers and members, and the location of inefficient and unac- 
ceptable traveling preachers, and for a general improvement in 
ecclesiastical jurisprudence. 

In addition to the Christian Advocate and Journal and the West- 
ern Christian Advocate, similar papers were established in Charles- 
ton, Bichmond, and Nashville, to be conducted under the direc- 
tion and patronage of the Connection. The Christian Apologist, 
for the Germans, was also authorized to be published in Cin- 
cinnati by the Western Book Concern. 

A new and stringent act on Temperance being under dis- 
cussion, "on motion of William Winans it was resolved that the 
resolution under consideration be referred to the Bishops, Avith 
the request that they give their opinion whether it interferes 
with the fourth restrictive regulation in our Discipline." The res- 
olution went to the Annual Conferences^ which failed to concur. 



nisTonj Of jJCT/ioaisin. 



While peace and prosperity were the rule for the next eight 
years, New England Y>"as an exception. The two delegates of 
the New Hampshire Conference — Norris and Storrs — who had 
been censured at Cincinnati, were lionized at home. A system- 
atic agitation was begun, and extraordinary preambles and res- 
olutions were thrust upon Annual and Quarterly Conferences. 
Some of these resolutions censured the acts and attitude of other 
Annual Conferences, especially in the South; unchristianized a 
large proportion of American Methodists; reflected seriously 
upon the administration; and pronounced harsh judgment upon 
ministers and members in good standing in the Church who had 
not been arraigned. The Bishops, believing that one Annual 
Conference had no right to censure the proceedings of another, 
and that such business was no part of the disciplinary schedule 
which they, as executive and judicial officers of the Church, were 
required to carry out, ruled against these resolutions, and declined 
to put them to vote; and they instructed the ]Dresiding elders 
to hold their judicatories to legal and legitimate business. One, 
who allowed the quarterly-meetings of his district to be turned 
virtually into abolition meetings, was removed; another, who 
became very unpopular for keeping abolition business off the 
record and out of the official meetings, was returned to his dis- 
trict in the face of opposition. Of course, vigorous and pushing 
men like Messrs. Scott, Storrs, Horton, Sunderland, Merrill, 
and their company, were not to be checked up by "rulings." 
Their consciences Avere in it, and they must testify, not only as 
men, but "in a Conference capacity." The tyranny of bishops 
was denounced, and the elective presiding eldership was in fa- 
vor. The older Bishops —Hedding and Soule — encountered 
rough seas, but weathered the storm with only slight damage; 
but when it was the turn of Bishops Waugh and Morris to pre- 
side in New England, they properly dreaded it. The latter wrote 
requesting Bishop Soule to meet him in New Hampshire, and help 
him out. Bishop Waugh held the Conference at Nantucket, June, 
1837.* A caucus or convention representing sixty preachers met 
in advance or outside of the session, to arrange a programme, 
and a committee was appointed to wait on him and inquire 
whether he will rule against the introduction of abolition peti- 

^Anti-slavery Struggle an:l Triumph in the Methodist Episcopal Church, hy 
L. C. Matlack, D.D., ISSl; vrith an Introduction hv D. D. AVhedon, D.D. 



Threatening to Block Business. 



605 



tions, appointing a committee on them, and discussing and dis- 
posing of any report from sucli a committee in a Conference ca- 
pacity, and they conclude: "We think we have good reason to 
believe that if the privilege of introducing these petitions and 
memorials of our people is denied, the Conference will refuse to 
act on any subject that shall be introduced." * The Bishop asked 
time to consider of it; and next day he replied in a long letter. 
"\Ye give an extract: 

I respectfully and affectionately say to you that as far as may be consistent witli 
my obligations to the General Conference of tlie Methodist Episcopal Church, it 
will afibrd me pleasure to abstain from any course in which conflict or disagree- 
ment will be likely to arise on any subject which may come before the Conference. 
I cannot, however, admit the doctrine which you have set up in your communi- 
cation, Asdien you say that it is your right to appoint a committee to report on said 
memorial, and also to act on any report from such committee. I cannot admit 
this unqualified and unlimited doctrine of right, because I know of no instrument 
or organization, or established usage, which gives such a right to an Annual Con- 
ference. Annual Conferences owe their existence to the General Conference, and 
cannot have organization without the action of that body in fixing the boundaries 
thereof. The General Conference determines not only the location and bounds 
of an Annual Conference, but defines the business to whicli its action extends. It 
will not be pretended by any one that an Annual Conference is a legislative body. 
Its functions are judicial and executive. Whence then the right claimed, to re- 
ceive memorials on the subject of slavery, to refer them to a committee, and to 
act on any report wdiich maybe made by such committee? It is, indeed, admitted 
that those Conferences within whose bounds slavery exists can and ought to take 
such cognizance of the subject as they are empowered and directed to do by the 
General Conference, and to perform executive acts in fulfillment of the regulations 
of the General Conference; but what executive act can be performed by an Annual 
Conference on the subject of slavery, in whose bounds it has no existence? But 
the doctrine set up cannot be admitted because of its destructive tendency. If an 
Annual Conference can extend its jurisdiction over questions other than those 
which are judicial and executive, then it may introduce and prosecute measures 
w^hicli may arraign, censure, or condemn the very body which gives it existence. 
It may appoint a committee to investigate and report on any of our doctrines, 

-It was " voted " to appoint a committee " to fix on some proper plan of operations," in 
case the Bishoj)'s rulings were not favorable; and this is the report which the Rev. La Roy 
Sunderland, chairman of the committee of five, presented : " The committee to whom was re- 
ferred the question as to the best measures for the Conference to take, in case the Bishop 
denies us the right of acting in a Conference capacity on the memorials to be presented on 
the subject of slavery to-morrow morning, report that in their opinion the best measure in 
the case above supposed will be to lay every other question upon the table till this right is 
granted us; as this question, under present circumstances, the committee believe to be para- 
mount in its claims to any other which can at this time come before the Conference. And 
should this plan fail we recommend that the Conference should adjourn to the commence- 
ment of another session, from time to time, till our rights are granted us; and that the inter- 
vals be spent in solemn prayer." (Methodism and Slavery, by L. C. Matlack, 18-19.) 



606 



History of Methodism. 



either favorably or unfavorably. It may take under its revision the very Disci- 
pline itself, and by report sanction oi' condemn it. 

The correspondence, and questions for the Chair on the Con- 
ference floor, ran along through the session; the Bishop was 
badly badgered, and afterward roundly berated. 

Bishop Hedding argued the case often and at leiigth with his 
old friends of New England. A short extract from one of his 
addresses will serve to indicate the drift: 

It has been said, "It is the prerogative of the (Annual) Conference to decide 
what business they will do, and ivhen they will do it." But I deny it — this is as- 
suming the rights of the General Conference, and usurping a control over tlie 
president of an Annual Conference which no body of men has a right to exercise 
but the General Conference. And because I was unwilling to submit to this usur- 
pation I have been severely censured. I have been unjustly, repeatedly, and cru- 
elly held up to public view, by certain inconsiderate writers, as one who infringed 
on the "rights" of my brethren. 

Of course these reformers had an organ — Z ion's Watchman. 
In its columns vituperation ran riot. They denounced officials 
as pro-slavery, the tools of the slave power, tyrants; they assailed 
the whole Church as "rotten," "stained with the blood of bonds- 
men." Dr. Fisk saw the plague spreading, and wrote able let- 
ters sustaining the administration, and declaring to his New 
England friends "that the doctrines and m.easures of mod- 
ern abolitionism are revolutionary in their character and tend- 
ency, and must, if persisted in, end in schism and in the dis- 
memberment of the Church of Christ." Dr. Bangs and Bishops 
Hedding and Soule, out of abundant material, repeatedly brought 
charges against some of the leaders for "slander," "falsehood," 
"misrepresentation," "treating me in a scurrilous manner," 
" publishing against me an injurious falsehood." It availed noth- 
ing. Charges might be supported by specifications and specifi- 
cations by proof, but getting a verdict was another thing. The 
result was — acquitted, triumphantly acquitted! "Modern aboli- 
tion " had this quality — it was blind, as well as bitter. 

Sunderland, who conveniently held a superannuated relation, 
moved to New York City to publish his paper, and fell into a trap 
which his partisans averred had been set to catch him. A late 
law provided that a superannuated preacher might be arrest- 
ed for "immoral and unchristian conduct" wherever residing, 
even though outside of his Conference limit. Sunderland was 
arrested and tried before D. Ostrander, presiding elder of 



Bifficultij in Getting a Verdict. 



607 



New York District, and found guilty on eleven specifications, 
including sucli terms as "misrex)resentation," "vituperation," 
"deception," "defamation," "slander" — a committee of five 
leading ministers 'saying over their signatures tliat "the charge 
is clearly and fully sustained by the testimony." He was sus- 
pended until the New England Conference met, which promptly 
set aside the whole affair. The New York Conference (in 1839) 
sent up a grave charge against him, with a committee to x)rose- 
cute it. After hearing the case, the verdict was: "And he hereby 
is acquitted, on the charge preferred against him by the New York 
Annual Conference."* 

The presiding elders had a hard time ; for where a bishop had 
one conflict in a year they might have twenty. Some Quarterly 
Conferences were closed up after the presiding elder, worn out 
and worried by adjournment and other tactics, had left the chair, 
and matters were entertained and entered upon the official jour- 
nal which he had ruled out. 

The whole matter came before the General Conference of 1840, 
both in passing upon the administration of the four preced- 
ing years, and in the Address of the Bishops. The Address 
brought the subject up directly. After speaking of the satis- 
factory state of the Connection, and the good effects and gen- 
eral observance of the Pastoral Address sent forth in 1836, 
which advised abstinence "from all abolition movements and 
from agitating the exciting subject in the Church," it adds: "But 
we regret that we are compelled to say that in some of the North- 
ern and Eastern Conferences, in contravention of your Christian 
and pastoral counsel and our best efforts to carry it into effect, 
the subject has been agitated in such forms and in such a spirit 
as to disturb the peace of the Church. This unhappy agitation 
has not been confined to the Annual Conferences, but has been 
introduced into Quarterly Conferences and made the absorbing 
business of self -created bodies in the bosom of our beloved Zion." 
After stating the controversy that had arisen as to "the consti- 
tutional powers of the General Superintendents in their rela- 
tions to the Annual Conferences," and as to "the rights of An- 
nual and Quarterly Conferences in their official capacities," and 
shov/ing that "the geographical bounds of the controversy are 
very limited," the Address proceeds to state the points at issue: 



* Methodism and Slavery, by L. C. Matlack, pages 248-251. 



DUO 



jjLisTorij 0/ metnoaism. 



The whole subject may be presented to you in the folloAving simple questions: 
When any l)usiness comes up for action in our Annual or Quarterly Conferences, 
involving a difficulty on a question of law, so as to produce the inquiry, What is 
the law in the case? does the constitutional power to decide the question belong 
to the i^resident or the Conference? Have the Annual Conferences a constitution- 
al right to do any other business than what is specifically prescribed, or by fair 
construction, provided for in the form of Discipline? Has the president of an 
Annual Conference, by virtue of his office, a right to decline putting a motion or 
resolution to vote, on business other than that thus prescribed or provided for? 
These questions are jjroposed with exclusive reference to the princii^le of constitu- 
tional right. The principles of courtesy and expediency are very different things. 

As far as we have been able to ascertain the views of those who entertain opin- 
ions opposite to our own on these points, they may be summed up as follows: 
They maintain that all questions of law arising out of the business of our Annual 
or Quarterly Conferences are to be, of right, settled by the decision of those 
bodies, either primarily by resolution or finally by an appeal from the decision 
of the president ; that it is the prerogative of an Annual Conference to decide 
what business they Avill do and when they will do it;" that they have a constitu- 
tional right "to discuss, in their official capacity, all moral subjects;" to investi- 
gate the official acts of other Annual Conferences, of the General Conference, and 
of the General Superintendents, so far as to x)ass resolutions of disapprobation or 
approval on those acts. They maintain that the president of an Annual Confer- 
ence is to be regarded in the same relation to the Conferences that a chairman or 
speaker sustains to a civil legislative assembly; that it is his duty to preserve order 
in the Conference, to determine questions of order subject to appeal, and put to vote 
all motions and resolutions, when called for, according to the rules of the body; 
that these are the settled landmarks of his official prerogatives as president of the 
Conference, beyond which he has no right to go; that although it belongs to his 
office, as general superintendent, to appoint the time for holding the several An- 
nual Conferences, he has no discretionary authority to adjourn them, whatever 
length of time they may have continued their session, or whatever business they 
may think proper to transact. From these doctrines we have felt it oiu' solemn 
duty to dissent ; and we will not withhold from you our deliberate and abiding 
conviction that should they be sustained by the General Conference the uniform 
and efficient administration of the government would be rendered impracticable. 

The response of the General Conference came in the form of 
the following enactment, proposed by a committee of which Dr. 
Winans was chairman: 

The president of an Annual or a Quarterly-meeting Conference has the right 
to decline putting the question on a motion, resolution, or report, when in his 
judgment such motion, resolution, or report does not relate to the jDroper busi- 
ness of the Conference; provided that in all such cases the president, on being 
required by the Conference to do so, shall have inserted in the journals of the 
Conference his refusal to put the question on such motion, resolution, or report, 
with his reason for so refusing. 

That the president of an Annual or a Quarterly-meeting Conference has the 



Restating the Position. 



609 



right to tidjourn the Conference over wliich he presides wlien, in liis judgment, 
all the business prescribed by the Discipline to such Conference shall have been 
transacted; provided tliat if an exception be taken by tlie Conference to his so 
adjourning it, tlie exception shall be entered upon the journal of such Conference. 

The proviso secures the ground — if there be ground — for a 
charge of maladministration or malfeasance against the presid- 
ing officer to the proper tribunal. 

A memorial from t*he official members of Westmoreland, Vir- 
ginia, repeated the complaint which four years before had been 
sent up by their neighbors of Lancaster, that, y/hile geograph- 
ically they were subject to State laws under which emancipation, 
in the sense of the Discipline, could not take place, the Balti- 
more Conference, to which ecclesiastically they belonged, dis- 
criminated against them, refusing to elect local preachers to or- 
ders, or to admit them into the traveling connection, because they 
were slave-holders. Whereupon the following action was taken: 

Resolved, by the delegates of the several Annual Conferences in General Con- 
ference assembled, That under the provisional exception of the general rule of the 
Church on the subject of slavery, the simple holding of slaves, or mere ovrner- 
ship of slave property, in States or Territories where the laws do not admit of 
emancipation and permit the liberated slave to enjoy freedom, constitutes no legal 
barrier to the election or ordination of ministers to the various grades of office 
knoAvn in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and cannot therefore 
be considered as operating any forfeiture of right in view of such election and or- 
dination. 

The English Wesleyans had, as usual, proffered advice on the 
vexed question, to which the American Methodists say in a reply 
adopted by the General Conference and signed by all the Bish- 
ops: "We assure you then, brethren, that we have adopted no 
new principle or rule of discipline respecting slavery since the 
time of our apostolic Asbury; neither do we mean to adopt any. 
We should regard it a sore evil to divert Methodism from her 
proper work of ' spreading Scripture holiness over these lands,' 
to questions of temporal import, involving the rights of Caesar." 

The foreign brethren are reminded of the peculiar structure 
of the United States Government: 

That while some States favor emancipation, there are otliers in which slavery 
exists so universally and is so closely interwoven with their civil institutions 
that both do the laws disallow of emancipation and the great body of the people 
(the source of laws with us) hold it to be treasonable to set forth any thing, by 
word or deed, tending that way. Each one of all these States is independent 
of the rest and sovereign, with respect to its internal government (as much so as 
31 



if there existed no confederation among them for ends of common interest), and 
therefore it is impossible to frame a rule on slavery proper for our people in 
all the States alike. . . . Under the administration of the venerated I)r. 
Coke, this plain distinction was once overlooked, and it vras attempted to urge 
emancipation in all the States; but the attempt proved almost ruinous, and 
was soon abandoned by the Doctor himself. While, therefore, the Church has 
encouraged emancipation in those States where the laws permit it, and al- 
lowed the freed man to enjoy freedom, we have refrained for conscience' sake 
from all intermeddling with the subject in those other States where the laws 
make it criminal. And such a course we think agreeable to the Scriptures and 
indicated by St. Paul's inspired instruction to servants in his First Epistle to the 
Corinthians, chapter vii., verses 20-24. 

This part of the Address concludes by quoting with approval 
the words of Bichard Watson, speaking, in 1833, to their own 
preachers in the West Indies: "Your only business is to promote 
the moral and religious improvement of the slaves to whom you 
may have access, without in the least degree, in public or private, 
interfering with their civil condition." 

The North and East furnished able combatants on both sides 
of the home controversy. The propositions affirmed by the ab- 
olitionists and denied by the conservatives may be stated thus: 
All slave-holding is sinful. No slave-holder should be retained 
in the communion of the Christian Church. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church is largely responsible for the continuance of 
slavery in the United States. The Discipline should be changed 
so as to exclude all slave-holders. Immediate and unconditional 
emancipation is the duty and the right of all. 

The conservatives set forth that the Old Testament recognized 
the patriarchs as owning servants or slaves, who became such 
by purchase or by being born in their house; that laws rega- 
lating slavery were divinely authorized ; and that the New Testa- 
. ment nowhere forbade the owning of slaves, but recognized both 
Christian masters and their Christian slaves as united in fellow- 
ship in the apostolic Churches ; and as to violent " extirpation," 
even admitting the worst, they reminded their opponents of the 
parable of the wheat and tares. 

The abolitionists, replying, quoted the original Methodist tes- 
timonies against all slave-holding; their subsequent modifica- 
tions, and the repeal of anti-slavery statutes; the abandonment 
of early systematic plans of agitation; and the toleration of the 
practice as evidence of responsibility for slavery. 

A resolution asking for a constitutional change of Discipline, 



Aholifioiiisni Secedes. 



611 



making uon-slave-liolding a condition of membership, had passed 
the New England Conference, and been sent to the other Annual 
Conferences for concurrence, but it met with little favor.'- 

In the New York, Erie, and Pittsburg Conferences measures 
AYere adopted and discipline enforced against ministers of these 
bodies for their attendance upon anti-slavery conventions and 
advocacy of abolition viev/s "under the pretense of preaching- 
sermons." A standing question in the Philadelphia Conference 
in 1837 and for years was, Are you an abolitionist? — an affirm- 
ative answer insuring the rejection of a candidate for admission. 
The discouragement of the reformers after the General Confer- 
ence of 1840 was general and deep. "There is no reforming the 
Church," said some who had been sanguine. "Abolitionism is 
dead," sighed others. A few held on, moaning, "There is no 
hope." An author remarks: "Nevertheless, the Methodist anti- 
slavery societies were not given up, though they had a sickly ex- 
istence. The brethren in New England could not, with any face, 
give up the form, although the thing itself was languishing." f 

"During the autumn of 1840 an effort was made to rally the 
abolitionists of the Church generally by holding a convention in 
New York City, v/hich brought together a large number of them." 
An American Wesleyan Anti-slavery Society was organized, but 
died at its first anniversary. :{: It Avas clear the Church meant to 
maintain the "Discipline as it is." Having lost all hope, the 
abolitionists prepared to secede. 

In 1842 the Wesleyan Methodist Church was organized, under 
the leadership of Messrs. Scott, Horton, Sunderland, Luther 
Lee, Brewster, Ogden, Matlack, Prindle, and others — men of 
force and of earnest convictions. The new organization accepted 
the doctrines of the parent Church, but made non-slave-holding 

^^In the Genesee Conference, thirty voted for it and sixty against it. Tlie Pitts- 
burg Conference gave five votes for it. All the other Conferences outside of New 
Engiand gave less votes than these two, and in most cases none at all. The Mich- 
igan Conference gave one vote for it, and the Erie Conference three. The I^ortli 
Carolina, Philadelphia, Missouri, Indiana, New Jersey, Troy, Black Eiver, Illinois, 
Kentucky, Georgia, Baltimore, Virginia, and others, were unanimous for non- 
concurrence, or reported no votes in favor of it. (Matlack's Anti-slavery Struggle 
and Triumph.) 

t Elliott's Great Secession, as quoted by Matlack. 

X Porter's History of Metliodism, Chapter XI. Matlack's Anti-slavery Strug- 
gle and Triumph. 



G12 



History of Methodism. 



a condition of membership. They established a paper called 
the True Wesleyan and a Book Concern in Syracuse, New Yoriv. 
Within two or three years about twenty thousand members with- 
drew, and joined them. Central New York and New England 
were the principal seat of the secession. Strong and persistent 
efforts w^ere made to draw away disciples after them, and both 
among ministers and members the indications of loss were for- 
midable; but, as in 18J28, when the other chronic element of 
trouble drew off, so now, many who had talked came to a pause 
at the actual crisis. Men like Timothy Merritt could not lightly 
leave the Church that made them, and which, in turn, they had 
helped to make. A reaction set in. Many ultraists became 
moderate for awhile, trying to save their Church from the 
ruin of ultraism. The local irritation v/as active, but the gen- 
eral relief was great. Conservatism had triumphed everywhere 
except in one corner of the land, and there the "geographical 
bounds of the controversy were very limited." 

Now came a period of peace and prosperity unprecedented. 
Revivals prevailed, churches were built, colleges and schools 
were full of students pursuing a higher curriculum; the mission- 
work among the slaves, ever sensitive to such excitement, had 
fallen off — but now it revived and prospered greatly. The in- 
crease of the Church far exceeded any thing known in its pre- 
vious history, being in 1841, 57,473; in 1842, 60,883; in 1843, 
154^624; and in 1844, 102,831 — making a total increase in the 
four years of more than 375,000. 

The experience of primitive days was comfortably repeated: 
" Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee 
and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the 
Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." 



CHAPTER XLIL 



Texas Independence — The Kepublic Open to the Gospel — First Missionaries: 
Huter, Fowler, Alexander — Alexander First and Last in the Field — Arkansas ; 
Pioneers: William Steplienson, Henry Stevenson; Local Preachers: Alford, 
Kinney, Denton, the Orr Brothers — Organization of Texas Conference — Ap- 
pointments — Centenary Year — Progress of the Church — General Missionary 
Secretaries: Bangs, Capers, Ames. 

"T~N the spring of 1836 the decisive battle of San Jacinto was 



1 fought. The Texas Republic was set up; that wide door 
was thrown open to Protestantism, and before another year 
the episcopacy, in conjunction with the Missionary Society, had 
planned to enter it. Dr. Martin Enter, President of Alleghany 
College, was appointed superintendent of the mission; and Lit- 
tleton Fowler, then Agent for La Grange College, and Eobert 
Alexander, stationed at Natchez, y/ere his assistants. 

Again Natchez is the starting-point of Church extension. Al- 
exander being nearest the field was first in it, quite in advance of 
his co-laborers."^^ He crossed the Sabine Eiver on the 19th of 
August, 1837. His commission was an indefinite one — "Mis- 
sionary to Texas." Having traveled a few miles he found a settle- 
ment and, calling the neighbors together, delivered his first ser- 
mon in a private house. His host, after a short time, entered his 
room and informed him that the people were unwilling to leave 
without another sermon. He held a camp-meeting in the neigh- 
borhood, where a class had been organized in 1834, After spend- 
ing a few days more in forming the San Augustine Circuit, Alex- 
ander proceeded westward and cheered the hearts of a band of old 
Methodists at Washington, who had been praying for a preacher. 
A second camp-meeting- was held. He had the cooperation of a 
few faithful local preachers who had gathered a score of mem- 
bers, of whom a goodly number were present at this camp-meet- 
ing west of the Brazos. For another month he traveled and 
preached in the scattered settlements, organizing classes and 
laying the foundation for future churches. 

^History of Methodism in Texas, by Kev. Homer S. Thrall (Houston, 1872) — ■ 
12mo, pages 210; and the Jubilee copy of tlie Texas Christian Advocate, 1884. To 
these valuable sources we are indebted for much of the following information. 




(313) 



614 



Il/sfoi'i/ of Method (S]u. 



Littleton Fowler entered the Republic rid Eed EiA^er, travel- 
ing in company with John B. Denton. Going on south, he 
preached in Nacogdoches, and then went to Washington, where 
lie met Alexander, just after the close of his camp- meeting. He 
left for the Mississippi Conference, which met at Natchez, Dec. 
6, but Fowler remained in the West and, being in Houston 
about the time Congress assembled, was elected chaplain of the 
Senate. He received from the proprietors of the city a title to 
a iialf-block of ground, upon which the Methodist church and 
parsonage in that city now stand. 

Dr. Ruter, with Mr. David Ayres, descended the Ohio and Mis- 
sissippi rivers to Rodne}- there took horse and, going west, met 
Alexander at the Sabine, as he was recrossing that border stream 
to report to his Conference. The two spent nearly the entire 
night in laying plans for future operations. The superintendent 
of the mission, with sagacious ardor, pursued his v>^ay to the Col- 
orado. It is said that within three months he had gathered the 
names of three hundred persons formerly members of the Meth- 
odist Church. He preached before the Texas Congress, and de- 
vised liberal things for education. He selected points where to 
place ten or a dozen new laborers, and by correspondence and 
personal influence deeply interested public opinion in the United 
States for the evangelization of Texas. But in May, returning 
for his family. Dr. Ruter was prostrated with a fatal sickness, and 
made his honored grave in the mission field. 

The Texas Conference was organized December 25, 1840, by 
Bishop Waugh, Thomas O. Summers being secretarj^ Robert 
Alexander was the precursor of an itinerant army which at his 
death numbered over five hundred. He lived t3 see Texas di- 
vided into six Annual Conferences (one for the German Meth- 
odists)j with eight hundred local preachers and ninety thousand 
Church-members within its magnificent domain.'-^" 

^ The first list of appointments Avill ahvays be an interesting record. San A ugus- 
fine District: L. Fowler, P. E. ; San Angustine, F. Wilson; Nacogdoches to be sup- 
plied ; Harrison, X. Shook ; Jasper, H. D. Palmer. Crfdv.^ston District : S. A. Will- 
iams, P. E.; Galveston and Houston, Thomas O. Summers; Brazoria, A. P. Man- 
ley; Montgomery, Fachard Owen, J. H. Collard; Liberty to be supplied; Crockett, 
Faniel Carl; Nashville, E. Crawford. FiUtcrsvillc District: E. Alexander, P. E.; 
Austin, J. Haynie; Washington, Jesse Hord; Center Hill, E. H. Hill; Matagorda, 
F. N. Y. Sullivan; Victoria, Joseph P. Sneed. Chauncey Eicnardson, President 
of EutersvlFe College. 



Pioneer Precichers of Texas and Arkansas. 615 



Enter fell early; Fowler lived not long, and left a sou to take 
Ills place in the ranks. The memory of both is blessed. Other 
laborers, strong and well adapted, were raised up or brought in. 
But the name of Eobert Alexander is preeminent. He entered 
the Tennessee Conference in 1831, in his twentieth year. After 
four years on circuits, he was promoted to the Chickasaw Dis- 
trict, in Mississippi, and thence to his first station. When be- 
ginning his forty-five years' labor in Texas he Avas in the prime 
of a vigorous manhood, with an experience beyond his years. 
He stood six feet five inches high; was of a robust constitution. 
His hair was reddish, his features strong, his eye intelligent, 
and his courage equal to any emergency. He was blessed with 
an excellent" judgment, and a mellow^, Christian experience. 
The Conference memoir says, he "has left the impress of his 
character upon every Methodist institution in the State. As a 
preacher he was the peer of any of his comrades. Clear, log- 
ical, and fearless, he preached the gospel with a consciousness 
that his authority was not from men, but from God. No man 
has done more for the cause of Christ and public virtue in Tex- 
as, and every Christian communion in the State is indebted to 
him for part of its life and growth." 

Let us not forget those who went before. William Stephenson 
was born at Ninety-Six, in South Carolina, and though forty- 
seven years old vv'hen admitted into Conference, he did thirty- 
nine years of most valuable labor. He itinerated from Missouri, 
through Arkansas and Louisiana to Texas. He was a good 
preacher — a great preacher, the people said. From 1821 to 1825 
he was presiding elder on the Arkansas District, then a part of 
the Missouri Conference. Snbsequently he was presiding elder 
on the Louisiana District from 1829 to 1833. This brought him 
to the Sabine Kiver, and he went over occasionally and bore the 
gospel to the Americans who had settled there, disregarding the 
Eomish interdicts of the Mexican authorities. 

Another pioneer, but not akm, was Henry Stevenson, a native 
of Kentucky, converted and licensed to preach by Jesse Walker 
on the Illinois frontier in 1801. In 1817 he, with his growing- 
family, settled in Hempstead county, Arkansas, and was useful 
as a local preacher. In 1820 he took work under the presiding 
elder. He was admitted on trial in the traveling connection, but 
his poverty and the cares of a large family made him unwilling 



616 



Hisionj of Methodism. 



to continue. Henry Stevenson yisitecl Austin's Colony as early 
as 1S24, and preacliecl near AVasliington and on the Colorado, 
near Columbus and San Felipe. He also paid these settlements 
a visit in 1828, and another in 1830. In June, 1831, he organ- 
ized a church in San Augustine, and made such headway that, 
among the Mississippi ajDpointments for 1835 tvq read: Texas 
Mission — Henry Stevenson. "His life," says our authority, 
"wa-s spent upon the frontier, amid its perils and privations, and 
he accomplished an immense amount of good. He preached 
along the whole western boundary of settlements from the Mis- 
souri Eiver to the Colorado, and left a name which is as oint- 
ment poured forth through all this vast region. It is hard to 
fathom the secret of his success. He was neither learned nor 
eloquent, in the ordinary acceptation of the terms, but he was a 
good man, and cherished a single iiurpose to glorify God and do 
all the good in his power/' 

Besides Xeedham Alford and the tvro Orrs — twin brothers — 
the most xDopular local preacher in prehistoric Texas Methodism 
was John W. Kinney, a son-in-law of Barnabas McHenry, who 
crossed the Brazos in 1833, and preached from Bastrop to Gon- 
zales and Brazoria, and was ready with a camp-meeting and 
membershii3 when Alexander reached his neighborhood four 
years later. J. B. Denton was killed in an Indian raid. 

AVhile in session at Cincinnati the General Conference heard 
the news of the battle of San Jacinto; at the next session, in Bal- 
timore, it authorized the organization of the Texas Conference. 
Such had been the extension of the field that there were in 1840 
twenty-eight Annual Conferences, and five others were consti- 
tuted at this session. For the first time in twelve years, i^eti- 
tions were sent in asking for the election of x^residing elders by 
. the Annual Conferences, and also praying for a "moderate epis- 
copacy." All these petitions came from Xevr England. 

The session at Baltimore was enlivened by the i^resence of the 
Piev. Eobert Newton, from England, and the Eev. Messrs. Eyer- 
son, from Canada . The eloquent English delegate not only was 
heard with delight and profit from the pulpit and platform, but he 
preached in the open air to immense crowds, shoAving on a Bal- 
timore square the secret of gosi^el power that had triumphed 
on Moorfield Common a hundred years before. 

Bishop Soule was appointed a fraternal delegate to the British 



Stcdistical Beview — Missionanj Secretaries, 



617 



Conference in 1842, with tlie Kev. Thomas B. Sargent as travel- 
ing companion. Bishop Heclding received a similar aT)point- 
ment to the Canada Conference. 

The Rev. Nelson Beed, the oldest traveling preacher in the 
United States, thongh not a member, was invited to a seat on the 
platform. Fifty-six years before, he had taken part in the or- 
ganization of the Church in that city. 

In February, 1836, the Book Concern w^as burned. The new 
buildings on Mulberry street and the stock were consumed, and 
for a loss of $250,000 there was a recoverable insurance of only 
$25,000. But from North and South donations to the amount of 
890,000 Yv^ere realized, and the agents wuth increasing patronage 
went forward with unchecked prosperity. 

The Church was feeling joyfully the results of the Centenary 
Celebration of 1839. English Methodism raised a million of 
dollars that year; America, about 8600,000 ; and the statistics 
of Methodism throughout the vv^orld shovred 1,171,000 members. 
To-day, churches and schools throughout the country bear the 
name of " Centenary," dating from that year. The statistical re- 
view was inspiring, and a better acquaintance with their own his- 
tory, institutions, and doctrines was grateful and invigorating to 
the 'Episcopal Methodists. They numbered, at this time, 749,216 
members, 3,557 traveling preachers, and 5,856 local preachers. 
The Missionary Society was reported as being in a flourishing 
condition, having appropriated $411,810 during the four preced- 
ing years, and it more than doubled the collections of 1839 in 
1840. Three General Secretaries were appointed — Dr. Bangs 
remained at New York; for the South, Dr. Capers was elected, 
and for the West, the Rev. E. B. Ames. 

The prospect was full of hope; the time, propitious. So true 
is it, that the Church has nothing to fear from fees vrithout, if 
there is peace within. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



The Situation — Abolitionism a Failure in the Church, a Success Outside of it — 
Meeting of General Conference in 1844: Proceedings in Bishop Andrevr's Case; 
The Griffith Eesolution; The Finley Substitute; Drift of Debate; Extracts 
from a Few Speeches; The Final Vote; The Protest; The Plan of Separation. 

WE have seen Episcopal Methodism, by the blessing of 
God upon its polity and doctrines, spreading tlie gospel 
over all these lands. It has shown conservative as well as pro- 
gressive power. Four large secessions and one peaceable sepa- 
ration have been endured, and yet every part of its government 
is maintained intact, and its strength has constantly increased. 
Internal elements, not germane to the system, have been elim- 
inated; outward opposition has been overcome; and acces- 
sions to the membership have so overbalanced secessions that 
the growing statistics do not afford a hint of the years of the 
greatest withdrawal. The original doctrinal standards have been 
so well preserved that all the minor bodies agree on them, take 
them away with them, and are jealous of their right to them as 
a precious and peculiar heritage. 

We have seen "modern abolitionism," an irrepressible and ir- 
ritating humor in the body of this Methodism, come to a head. 
Under the leadership of Scott, Sunderland, and their company, 
it is drawn off, and the old Church experiences a sense of relief 
and bounds forward. Many Methodists in position to know, 
many in the North and East, said that all trouble v/as over; the 
triumph of conservatism was complete and its vindication glori- 
ous. But affairs were destined to take another turn. The aboli- 
tionists have lost the battle on the ecclesiastical arena; on the polit- 
cal, they may win it, and did. A new force was evolved and came 
into play. Birney, and Lundy, and Tappan, and Garrison, have 
been working away, and their work is now felt. They began their 
agitation not on the religious or loyal line; for the Bible and 
the Constitution were spurned, and the Methodist Church, Vvdth 
others, was honored with their denunciations. No minister 
could be found to officiate at the first meeting of the abolition- 
ists in Boston. By and by Congress began to be plied with peti- 
tions, and slavery in the District of Columbia and slavery in the 
territories began to be discussed; and the utterances of infuriate 
(tUS) 



The Pressure of a New Force—Political. 619 



politicians on both sides became generators of public opinion. 
Parties were formed— municipal, State, and federal— so as to 
conciliate or take advantage of this new force." Though in the 
Church the movement had signally failed, the astute secular 
leaders were willing to accept aid from that quarter; and justice 
requires it to be said, aid was rendered so effectively that the 
complexion of " modern abolitionism " was changed, and it came, 
in the end, to conceive of itself not only as moral but religious. 

One of the most incisive and candid Northern writers, who 
finally threw his whole weight against the South, testifies: 

It is of the first importance for us fully to realize that the abolition movement 
was, in fact, an utter moral failure. It is a signal, pojDular illusion that original 
abolitionism was a great, successful moral reform. This error is propagated with 
much magniloquence by Mr. Garrison's latest biographer. You would think 
from the ordinary story that slavery was abolished by moral suasion, and that es- 
sentially by the Garrisonian programme. Quite the reverse. All Mr. Garrison 
did was to madden the slave-holders and bring on a war. The war might have 
created a slave empire, and have perpetuated the system forever. The abolition 
was not a moral achievement but a war measure.f 

When this business passed into the realm of civil legislation 
it went to its right place. ¥/ e say nothing here of the right or 
wrong methods pursued; but it belonged there. For obvious 
reasons, the question when taken up by politicians became more 
or less sectional; and when it became sectional it soon became 
unequal. Through the immigrant gates of Castle Garden poured 
hundreds of thousands annually to swell the ranks on one side. 
In 1838 England completed her scheme of emancipation in the 
West Indies, and the powerful pressure from that quarter was felt 
in getting up the sentiment that always precedss a new party. 
Englishmen are wise and, in whatever, concerns themselves, 

. '"'The New York State Anti-slavery Society, January, 1840, issued a call for a 
national convention at Albany on the first day of April ensuing, to discuss "the 
question of an independent nomination of abolition candidates for President and 
Vice-president of the United States, and if thought expedient to make such nom- 
inations for the friends of freedom to support at the next election." The nomi- 
nations were made. James Gillespie Birney, of Kentucky, and Thomas Earle, of 
Pennsylvania, were the candidates. Of two million and a half votes cast at that 
election, Birney and Earle received less than seven thousand. This was laughed 
at, but at the next presidential election Birney, and Morris of Ohio, received sixty- 
two thousand three hundred votes — an increase nearly tenfold ; and soon the bal- 
ance of power was wielded by them in some important elections. (Matlack.) 
t D. D. Whedon, D.D., Introduction Anti-slavery Struggle and Triumpli : 1881. 



620 



History of Method ism. 



very practical. They did not deprive citizens of property held 
under a constitutional title, v\dthout compensation; they did not 
indulge their philanthrophy at the expense of others, but paid 
$100,000,000 for the eight hundred thousand slaves emancipated 
by Parliament. Similar propositions never tempered the schemes 
of American abolitionists. They even opposed the Colonization 
Society, whose office was to encourage voluntary emancipation 
by assisting emancipated negroes in returning to Africa. If, 
instead of being separated by a great distance from them, on 
tropic isles, these eight hundred thousand liberated negroes 
had been distributed throughout England, our English kinsmen 
would doubtless have given us a practical solution of the social 
and political problem that followed upon emancipation. 

Omens of evil were felt on both sides, as Northern and South- 
ern delegates assembled at the General Conference of 1844, in 
New York. On the surface all was peaceful; but a groundswell 
met them. New Hampshire memorials took exception to Dr. 
Capers, one of the " three General Secretaries of the Missiona- 
ry Society," as a slave-holder. May 7th the appeal of a member 
from the Baltimore Conference was taken up. Ho v/as an elder; 
February before, he had married a young lady who owned a fam- 
ily of five slaves. At the session of Conference in March he was 
required, according to a usage of that body, to manumit them. 
Failing to comply, he was "suspended until ilie next Annual 
Conference, or until he assures the episcopacy that he has taken 
the necessary steps to secure the freedom of his slaves." 

The case for the appellant was argued by Dr. William A. Smith, 
and for the Conference by Rev. John A. Collins, with eminent abil- 
ity. It appeared in evidence that by the laws of Maryland the 
title and ownership inhered in the wife, and that a slave could 
not be emancipated and continue to reside in the State in the en- 
joyment of liberty. On the other hand, it was maintained that 
no slave-holder had ever been a member of the Baltimore Con- 
ference; the offending member knew this when he entered it, and 
he had the fact before him when he married; that this usage of 
the Conference had been uniformly insisted on in the case of 
others; that notwithstanding the stringency of the State law, 
slaves had been often manumitted and remained undisturbed in 
the State; and as for the title, it Avas assumed tliat he coald per- 
suade his v/ife to join him in the act of manumission. 



Trouble Ahead. 



621 



Tlie reader of the journal, which is spread out with unusual 
fullness at this point, cannot fail to see that the chief interest in 
this case lay in its bearing upon another, of wider import, and 
that it was debated and decided with the latter constantly in 
view. On May 11, a vote was taken, and the motion to reverse 
the sentence of the Conference failed — 56 ayes, 117 noes. 

The hearts of men who loved God and who loved the Church 
Vvere painfully conscious of the chilling shadow of an impend- 
ing conflict falling upon their love for each other. They were 
moved to seek some remedy. Therefore, on iii^otion of Dr. Ca- 
pers, on May 14, the following preamble and resolution vv^ere 
adopted: 

In view of the distracting agitation wliich has so long prevailed on the subject 
of slavery and abolition, and especially the difficulties under which we labor in 
the present General Conference on account of the relative position of our bretli- 
ren North and South on this perplexing question, therefore, 

Resolved, That a committee of six be appointed to confer with the Bishops, and 
report within two days, as to the possibility of adopting some plan, and what, for 
the permanent pacification of the Church.* 

In seconding the motion Dr. Olin, who had been called to the 
place vacated by the death of Dr. Fisk, at Middletown, said: 

He had feared for these two or three days that though possibly they miglit es- 
cape the disasters that threatened them, it was not probable. He had seen the 
cloud gathering, so dark that it seemed to him there was no hope left for them 
unless God should give them hope. It might be from his relation to both ex- 
tremities that, inferior as miglit be his means of forming conclusions on other top- 
ics, he had some advantages on this; and from an intimate acquaintance Vvith the 
feelings of his brethren in the work he saw little ground of encouragement to 
hope. It appears to me (he continued) that we stand committed on this question 
by our principles and views of policy, and neither of us dare move a step from our 
position. Let us keep away from the controversy until bretliren from opposite 
sides have come together, I confess I turn away from it with sorrow, and a deep 
feeling of apprehension that the difficulties that are upon us now threaten to be 
unmanageable. I feel it in my heart, and never felt on any subject as I do on 
this: and I will take it on me to say freely that I do not see how Northern men 
can yield their ground, or Southern men give up theirs. I do indeed believe that 
if our affiiirs remain in their present position, and this General Conference do 
not speak out clearly and distinctly on the subject, however unpalatable it may 
be, we cannot go home under this distracting question without a certainty of 
breaking up our Conferences. I have been to eight or ten of the Northern Con- 
ferences, and spoken freely with men of every class, and firmly believe that, with 
the fewest exceptions, they are influenced by the most ardent and the strongest 
desire to maintain the discipline of our Church, Will the Southern men believe 



* Committee: Capere, Olin, Winans, Early, Hamline, and Crandall. 



622 



Histonj of MetJwdism. 



me in this — when I say I am sincere, and well informed on the subject? The 
men who stand here as abolitionists are as ardently attached to Methodist episco- 
pacy as you all. I believe iL in my heart. Your Xorthern brethren, who seem 
to you to be arrayed in a hostile attitude, have suffered a- great deal before tliey 
have taken their position, and tliey come up here distressed beyond measure, and 
disposed, if they believed tliey could, without destruction and ruin to the Church, 
to make concession. It may be that both parties will consent to come together 
and talk over the matter fairly, and unbosom themselves, and speak all that is in 
their hearts; and as lovers of Christ keep out passion and prejudice, and with 
much prayer call down the Holy Spirit upon their deliberations; and feeling the 
dire necessity that oppresses both parties, tliey will at least endeavor to adopt 
some plan of pacification, that if they go away it may not be without hope of 
meeting again as brethren. I look to this measure with desire rather than with 
hope. With regard to our Southern brethren — and I hold that on this question 
at least I may speak with some confidence — if they concede what the Northern 
brethren wish, if they concede that holding slaves is incompatible with holding 
their ministry, tliey may as well go to the Kocky Mountains as to their own sunny 
plains. The people would not bear it. They feel shut up to their principles on 
this point. ^But if our difficulties are unmanageable, let our spirit be right. If we 
must part, let us meet and pour out our tears together ; and let us not give up until 
we have tried. I cannot speak on this subject without deep emotion. If we push 
our principles so far as to break up the Connection, this may be the last time we 
meet. I fear it! I fear it! I see no way of escape. If we find any, it will be 
in mutual moderation, in calling for help from the God of our flithers, and in 
looking upon each other as we were wont to do. These are the general objects I 
had in view in seconding the resolution, as they are of him who moved it} 
The reverend gentleman sat down amid deep and hallowed excitement. 

On motion of Dr. Durbin it was resolved that to-morroAv be 
observed as a day of fasting and Immiliation before God, and 
prayer for his blessing upon the committee. 

Four days afterward Bishop Soule reported back: "The Com- 
mittee of Conference have instructed me to report that, after a 
calm and deliberate investigation of the subject submitted to 
their consideration, tliey are unable to agree upon any plan of 
compromise to reconcile the views of the Northern and South- 
ern Conferences." 

On motion of Mr. Collins, the Committee on Episcopapy were 
instructed to ascertain the facts in the case of Bishop Andrew and 
''report the results of their investigation to-morrow morning." 

On May 22, Dr. Paine, chairman, submitted the following: 

" The Committee on Episcopacy, to whom was referred a reso- 
lution, submitted yesterday, instructing them to inquire whether 
any one of the Superintendents is connected with slavery, beg 
leave to present the following as their report on the subject. 



Bishop Andrew's Case. 



623 



" Tlie committee had ascertained, previous to the reference of 
the resolution, that Bishop Andrew is connected with slavery, 
and had obtained an interview with him on the subject; and hav- 
ing requested him to state the whole facts in the premises, here- 
by present a written communication from him in relation to this 
matter, and beg leave to offer it as his statement and explanation 
of the case: " 

To the Committee on Episcopacy — Dear Brethren : In reply to your inquiry I sub- 
mit the following statement of all the facts bearing on my connection with slav- 
ery. Several years since an old lady, of Augusta, Georgia, becj[ueathed to me a 
mulatto girl, in trust that I should take care of her until she should be nineteen 
years of age; that with her consent I should then send her to Liberia; and that 
in case of her refusal, I should kee]3 her, and make lier as free as tlie laws of the 
State of Georgia would permit. When the time arrived, she refused to go to Li- 
beria, and of her own choice remains legally my slave, although I derive no pe- 
cuniary profit from her. She continues to live in her own house on my lot; and 
has been and is at present at perfect liberty to go to a free State at her pleasure; 
but the laws of the State will not permit her emancipation, nor admit such deed 
of emancipation to record, and she refuses to leave the State. In her case, there- 
fore, I have been made a slave-holder legally, but not vdth my own consent. 

Secondly. About five years since, the mother of my former vrife left to her 
daughter, not to me, a negro boy; and as my wife died without a will more than 
two years since, by the laws of the State he becomes legally my property. In 
this case, as in the former, emancipation is impracticable in the State; but he 
shall be at liberty to leave the State whenever I shall be satisfied that he is pre- 
pared to provide for himself, or I can have sufficient security that he will be pro- 
tected and provided for in the i)lace to which he may go. 

Third. In the month of January last I married my present wife, she being at 
the time possessed of slaves, inherited from her former husband's estate, and be- 
longing to her. Shortly after my marriage, being unwilling to become their 
owner, regarding them as strictly hers, and the law not permitting their emanci- 
pation, I secured them to her by a deed of trust. 

It will be obvious to you from the above statement of facts that I have neither 
bought nor sold a slave; that in the only two instances in which I am legally a 
slave-holder emancipation is impracticable. As to the servants owned by my 
wife, I have no legal responsibility in the premises, nor could my wife emancipate 
them if she desired to do so. I have thus plainly stated all the facts in the case, 
and submit the statement for the consideration of the General Conference. Yours 
respectfully, James O. Andrew. 

The report was made the order of the day for May 23, when 
Alfred Griffith and John Davis, of the Baltimore Conference, 
offered an historical preamble and the following resolution: 

Resolved, That the Eev. James O. Andrew be, and he is hereby affectionately, 
requested to resign his office as one of the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 



624 



History of Metliodism. 



The time limit was rem^oved, and Mr. Griffith led off in the 
discussion. His speech furnished the key-note of several that 
followed: "A bishop among us is, therefore, only an officer of 
the General Conference, created for specific purposes, and for no 
other than the purposes specified." 

Mr. Sandford (of New York) said: "The matter seemed to 
him to be confined to one single point — the expediency of making 
this request of Bishop Andre y>^. He presumed that no man 
would dispute their right to make the request, though they might 
differ as to the expediency of doing it. In the majority of [Annual] 
Conferences which compose our Church, if something be not done 
to remove the evil connected v/ith the superintendency of Bishop 
Andrew out of the way, they could not possibly avoid convul- 
sions, and the loss of very large numbers of members, and give 
opportunity to their enemies to exert a destructive influence 
within the ranks of their community. This was clear and cer- 
tain, and did not admit of a single doubt; and this he believed 
to be the firm conviction on the mind of the Conference. It was 
on this, and on this alone, that he wished to rest the expediency 
of the measure now proposed." 

Dr. Winans (of Mississippi) v/as the first speaker on the 
Southern side; a striking figure — tall and rav/-boned. The veins 
of his stringy neck might be seen, swollen v^ith earnestness, for 
he spoke in Italics and wore no cravat. His limp shirt-collar 
lay around, his clothes were baggy, and his shoes tied with 
strings; but his eye was bloodshot with intensity, and his head 
a magnifi.cent dome of thought. Exact, logical, forcible, he had 
become known in the radical controversy of 1824, as unsur- 
passed in debate. Other elements besides ecclesiastical entered 
into this question, and he spoke in "the calmness of despair:" 

Well, lie was a slave-holder in 1840, exposed to the malediction of the North, 
and just as unfit for tlie general superintendency as in January, 1844. And what 
harm was there in marrying a woman who had been pronounced by one of the 
most venerated of our ministers to be as fit a lady for a bishop's wife as he ever 
saw? What evil had he done by becoming a slave-holder further by that mar- 
riage, when he was already a slave-holder beyond control? What had he done 
by that marriage to prejudice his case? Just nothing at all, for he was already a 
slave-holder by immutable necessity. In forming a matrimonial alliance, in seek- 
ing one who was to become the mother of his children and the companion of his 
declining years, he had married a pious and estimable lady, and that is the whole 
matter ; and yet he is advised to leave the superintendency on this ground. 

What has he done by executing the deed of trust? Yvliat did he do to alter 



Extracts from a Few Speeches — Drift of Debate. 625 



the position of the slaves? Did he bring upon them any consequences prejudicial 
to them? Did he incur any obligation to deprive that lady of her property be- 
cause she had given him her hand? Why, the position will be this: that James 
O. Andrew must cease to be a bishop because he has married a lady; for he has 
done tliese negroes no harm by his momentary possession of them. 

But, sir, the main point relied upon in this matter is the expediency of the 
course contemplated. Expediency! Or, in other words, such a state of things 
has been gotten up in the North and in the West as renders it necessary for Bish- 
op Andrew to retire from the office of the superintendency if we would preserve 
the union of the Church. Sir, T will meet this by another argument on expedi- 
ency : by the vote contemplated by this body and solicited by this resolution, you 
render it expedient — nay, more, you render it indispensable; nay, more, you 
render it uncontrollably necessary — that a large portion of the Church (and, 
permit, me to add, a portion always conformed in their views and practices to the 
Discipline), I say that by this vote you render it indispensably, ay uncontrollably, 

necessary that that portion of the Church should I dread to pronounce the 

word, but you understand me. Yes, sir, you create an uncontrollable necessity 
that there should be a disconnection of that large portion of the Church from your 
body. If you pass this action in the mildest form in which you can approach 
the Bishop, you will throw every minister in the South hors du combat; you 
cut us off from all connection with masters and servants, and leave us no op- 
tion — God is my witness tliat I speak with all sincerity of purpose toward you — 
but to be disconnected from your body. If such necessity exists on your part to 
drive this man from his office, we reassert that this must be the result of your ac- 
tion. We have no will, no choice, in this thing. 

Dr. Lovick Pierce (of Georgia), a member of the first delegated 
General Conference, which met in New York in 1812, said: 

Allow me to say, the adoption of the resolution on the ground of expediency is, in 
the very nature of the case, to invert the established order of the New Testament. 
In the difficulties which arose in the Church in the days of the great Apostle to 
the Gentiles, he said, in reference to this point, "All things are lawful for me, but 
all things are not expedient." Shall we ask Bishop Andrew to pay this tribute 
to expediency? Why, if it were lawful to demand it, and the yielding of it would 
produce such disastrous results as must be produced, it would be inexpedient for 
this body of God-fearing ministers to make any such demand. To the law and to 
the testimony I feel myself bound closely to adhere. Of all notions that were ever 
defended before a body of Christian ministers, the notion of asking an act of this 
sort on the ground of expediency, when it is as inexpedient for one portion of a 
united body of Christians to do this as it is expedient for the other that it should 
be done, is to me the most fearful mockery of sound logic. Do that which is inex- 
pedient for us, because for you it is expedient! Never, while the heavens are 
above the earth, let that be recorded on the journals of the General Conference 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church ! Do you ask us how this matter is to be met ? 
It is to met by the conservative principle and the compromise laws of this book 
of Discipline. Show your people that Bishop Andrew has violated any one of the 
established rules and regulations of this Church, and you put yourselves in the 
right, and us in the wrong. 
40 



62G 



History of Methodism. 



Mr. Coleman (of Troy) "would give his vote in favor of the 
resolution, but would not like to be considered an enemy of his 
Southern brethren. He had opposed abolitionism from the com- 
mencement. He, in connection with other Northern brethren, 
had had to fight the battles of their Southern brethren. He had 
expected a most peaceful Conference, supposing as he did that 
the fire-brands had left their ranks last year. The South- 
ern brethren knew little of the labors of the Northern men to 
secure their comfort and safety. Give them a slave-holding 
bishop, and they make the whole of the North a magazine of 
gunpowder, and the bishop a fire-brand in the midst." 
^ Mr. Stringfield'(of Holston) argued: "It is inexpedient that 
Bishop Andrew should resign. If the Bishop be shuffled out 
of office, some one must be elected to fill his place, and such a 
one, whoever he may be, will meet with as little favor in the 
South as Bishop Andrew would, with all his disabilities, in the 
North." 

Mr. Spencer (of Pittsburg) spoke to the point: "We hear 
much concerning the constitution. The word 'constitutional' 
is repeated again and again. Here I am at a loss. I cannot tell 
wdiat brethren mean. I suppose the constitution of our Church 
to be embodied in our Articles of Eeligion, our Restrictive Rules, 
and our General Rules. But where is it said in these that a 
slave-holding Bishop must remain in office despite the Gen- 
eral Conference? or that no rule can be made to touch such a 
case? Nowhere. Then is it not plain that these are high-sound- 
ing words used without meaning? But, sir, much is said of ex- 
pediency. Well, let us look at expediency. It is alleged that it 
would be a dreadful thing to pass the resolution before ns, as a 
matter of expediency. This is a grave subject. But is not ex- 
pediency at the foundation of many grave and important sub- 
jects? Mr. President, how did you and your colleagues get into 
the episcopal office? Expediency put you there, expediency 
keeps you there, and when expediency requires it you shall be 
removed from your seats — yes, every one of you. Expediency 
is the foundation of our episcopacy. Nay, more — it is the very 
basis of Methodism. Bishop Andrew is a bishop of the whole 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and is in duty bound to go to any 
part of it that its interests may require. If he cannot get rid of 
slavery where he is, let him go where he can." 



A Feu- Words from Mamj — Drift of Delate. 



627 



Dr. Bangs (of Xew York) said: ^'Xow, tlie doctrine of expedi- 
ency has been referred to. Let me give yon one item of expedi- 
ency that the Apostle Panl practiced: 'If meat make my brother 
to offend, I Avill eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I 
make my brother to offend;' and if Bishop Andrew had x)rac- 
ticed that kind of expediency we shonld not have had the pres- 
ent diffiicnlty." 

Mr. Cass: "The New Hampshire Conference, which I in part 
represent, has solemnly protested against having a slave-holder 
for a bishop. And thousands of onr members have also sent 
up memorials to this effect. Sir, I tell you that, in my opinion, 
a slave-holder cannot sit in the episcopal chair in an Annual 
Conference in New England; and if Bishoj) Andrew holds 
his office, there wdll be large secessions, or whole Conferences 
will leave. If this Conference does any thing less than to 
declare slavery is a moral evil, we stand on a volcano at the 
North." 

Dr. Green (of Tennessee): "It has been asked, 3Ir. President, 
what harm it w^ould do to us in the South. Well, let me tell you 
what I think the effect will be. Suppose Bishop Andrew be de- 
posed, and w^e from the South tamel}^ submit — how could I re- 
turn to my work and put my head out of the top of a pulpit and 
attempt to preach? If Bishop Ancbew be deposed, and the 
South were to submit — that is, the preachers in the South — to 
such an unjust and extrajudicial proceeding, it would disable 
the preachers in such a manner that we could not serve our peo- 
ple, and it is very certain that those who deposed him could 
never supply our place. There are difficulties for the North, and, 
as far as I can learn, I am Avilling to give them every advantage 
without destroying the South. If this Conference were to re- 
scind the Tew resolution,' we could stand that; and the decis- 
ion in the Baltimore case will not destroy us quite; and I sup- 
pose when we shall come to the election of bishops, that they 
(having the majority) will select brethren from the non-slave- 
holding Conferences. Is that not enough to intrench them from 
the attacks of abolition? I should think so. It is no small 
matter wdth the South that none of our Southern preachers can 
be elected a bishop. Yet we will not fall out with you because 
you dare not elect a brother from the South, but we will never 
submit to the doctrine that it shall not be done." 



628 



History cf Methodism. 



Tlie original motion was earnestly discussed for a part of two 
days; but in tlie weakness of its long, rambling historical pream- 
ble, as well as on its own merits, it seemed not to meet the exigen- 
cy: then J. B. Finley and J. M. Trimble, of the Ohio Conference, 
offered a substitute: 

Whereas the Discipline of our Church forbids the doing any thing calculated 
to destroy our itinerant general superintendency ; and Avhereas Bishop Andrew 
has become connected with slavery by marriage and otherwise; and this act hav- 
ing drawn after it circumstances which, in the estimation of the General Confer- 
ence, will greatly embarrass the exercise of his office as an itinerant General Su- 
perintendent, if not in some places entirely prevent it : therefore, 

Mesolved, That it is the sense of this General Conference that he desist from the 
exercise of this otiice so long as this impediment remains. 

The debate was renewed upon this slightly altered presentation 
of the case. Of the numerous and excellent speeches we may 
only quote enough to indicate the drift of plea and argument. 
Let us hear first, and at greater length than we can afford to oth- 
ers, the eloquent man who spoke for both sides — Dr. Olin : 

If there ever was a question beset with great practical difficulties, surely it is 
chat under which we now groan. Yet our powers are so great as to allow us to 
make some provision against them, and to some extent at least meet the wants of 
tlie Cliurch in this great emergency. We may do much, and Ave may make many 
arrangements in regard to the episcopacy ; but our powers are still limited and re- 
stricted in two things. We cannot do away with the episcopacy; we cannot in- 
fringe upon its character as a general superintendency. I believe we are all 
prepared to recognize the right of Southern brethren to hold slaves under tlie 
provisions of the Discipline. AYe shall acknowledge and guarantee the en- 
tire of the privileges and immunities of all parties in the Church. I here de- 
clare that if a remedy should be proposed that would trench on the consti- 
tutional claims of Southern ministers, I would not, to save the Church from any 
possible calamity, violate this great charter of our rights. I am glad of the op- 
portunity of saying that no man who is a Methodist, and deserves a place among 
us, can call in question here any rights secured by our charter. I do not say that 
he may not be a very honest or a very pious man who doubts the compatibility 
of slave-holding on the conditions of the Discipline, Avith the ministerial office; 
but in this he is not a Methodist. He may be a very good man, but a very bad 
Methodist; and if such a man doubts if the Church Avill reform, or is too impa- 
tient of delay, let him — as I would in his place — do as our friends in JSTcav En- 
gland did last year, go to some other Church, or set up one for himself. 

Isot only is liolding slaA^es, on the conditions and under the restrictions of the 
Discipline, no disqualification for the ministerial office, but I Avill go a little far- 
ther and say that slaA^e-holding is not constitutionally a forfeiture of a man's 
right, if he may be said to have one, to the office of a bishop. The Church, 
spread out tlirough all the land, Avill ahvays determine for itself Avhat are disqual- 



Br. Oliu's Plea for Both Sides. 



629 



ifications and wliat are not, and it has a perfect right to determine whether slave- 
holding, or abolitionism, or any otlier fact, shall be taken into consideration in its 
elections. 

These are my principles. I have never doubted with regard to them. I will 
add that I can never give a vote which does violence to my sentiments in regard 
to the religious aspect of the sulyect. I here declare that if ever I saw the graces 
of the Christian ministry displayed, or its virtues developed, it has been among 
slave-holders. I wish here to divest myself of what, to some, may seem an ad- 
vantage that does not belong to me. I will not conceal — I avow that I was a 
slave-holder and a minister at the South, and I never dreamed that my right to 
the ministry was questionable, or that in the sight of God I was less fitted to 
preach the gospel on that account. And if the state of my health had not driven 
me away from that region, I should probably have been a slave-holder to this day. 
In this day of reform and manifold suggestions I go farther, and say tliat, if by a 
vote of this General Conference you might call in question the right of our South- 
ern brethren to the ministry, and make their claim to the sacred office dependent 
on their giving immediate freedom to their slaves, I do not tliink that that would 
be a blessing to the slaves or to the Church. I do not believe the slave fares 
worse for having a Christian master, and I think the preachers may have more of 
public confidence on our present plan. I know these opinions may by some be 
regarded as unsound ; and I make them not because tliey have any special value 
or novelty, but because I profess to speak my sentiments freely. 

With regard to the particular case before us, I feel constrained to make one or 
tvro remarks. If ever there was a man worthy to fill the episcopal office by his 
disinterestedness, his love of the Church, his ardent, melting sympathy for all the 
interests of humanity, but above all for his uncompromising and unreserved advo- 
cacy of the interest of the slave — if tliese are qualifications for the office of a bishop, 
then James O. Andrew is preeminently fitted to hold that office. I know him well. 
He was the friend of my youth ; and although by liis experience and his position 
fitted to be a father, yet he made me a brother, and no man has more fully shared 
my sympatliies, or more intimately known my heart, for these twenty years. His 
house has been my home, on his bed have I lain in sickness, and he, with his 
sainted wife now in lieaven, has been my comforter and nurse. I^o question un- 
der heaven could have presented itself so painfully oppressive to my feelings as 
the one now before us. If I had a hundred votes, and Bisliop Andrew were not 
pressed by the difficulties which now rest upon .him, without any wrong intention 
on his part, I am sure, he is the man to whom I would give tlieni all. I knov,^ no 
man who has been so bold an advocate for the interest of the slaves; and when I 
have been constrained to refrain from saying what perhaps I should have said, I 
have heard him at camp-meetings, and on other public occasions, call fearlessly on 
masters to see to the spiritual and temporal interests of their sla,ves as a high Chris- 
tian duty. Excepting one lionored brother, whose name will hereafter be recorded 
as one of the greatest benefactors of the African race, I know of no man who has 
done so much for the slave as Bishop Andrew. 

It will be readily inferred, from what I have said, that if we cannot act with- 
out calling in question the rights of the Southern brethren, we had better, in my 
opinion, not act at all ; for I believe it would be better to submit to tlie greatest 
calamities than infringe upon our own constitution. Yet it seems to me that we 



630 



History of Metltodism. 



are not shut up to such a disastrous course, and that we may so dispose of this case 
as to escape Loth these difficulties. We cannot punish. I would not vote for any 
resolution that would even censure; and yet, with the powers that confessedly be- 
long to the General Conference, I trust some measure may be adopted that may 
greatly i^alliate and diminish, if it cannot wholly avert, the dangers that threaten 
us. The substitute now j)roposed I regard as such a measure. In it this General 
Conference exj^resses its wish and will that, under existing circumstances — mean- 
ing by that word not merely the fact that Bishop Andrew has become a slave- 
holder, but the state of the Church, the sentiments that prevail — the excitement, 
and the deep feeling of the people on the subject ; feeling, it may be, Avhich dis- 
qualifies them for calm, dispassionate views in the premises; that under these cir- 
cumstances, it is the Avish and the will of the brethren of this Conference that 
BisliojD Andrew, against Avhom we bring no charge, on whose fair character we fix 
no reproach, should, for the present, refrain from the exercise of his episcopal 
functions. This resolution proposes no jjunishment; it does not censure. It 
expresses no opinion of the Bishop's conduct. It only seeks to avert disastrous 
results by the exercise of the conservative, of the self-preserving powers of this 
Conference. 

I know the difficulties of the South. I know the excitement that is likely to 
prevail among the people there. Yet allowing our worst fears all to be realized, 
the South will have this advantage over its — the Southern Conferences are likely, 
in any event, to harmonize among themselves; they will form a compact body. 
In our Northern Conferences this will be impossible in the present state of things. 
They cannot bring their whole people to act together on one common groitnd. 
Stations and circttits will be so weakened and broken as in many instances to be 
unable to sustain their ministry. I speak on this point in accordance with the 
conviction of my own judgment, after having traveled three thousand miles 
through the Xew England and Xew York Conferences, that if soine action is not 
had on this subject calculated to hold out hope — to impart a measure of satisfac- 
tion to the people — there will be distractions and divisions ruinous to souls, and 
fatal to the permanent interests of the Church. 

I feel, sir, that if this great difficulty shall result in separation from our South- 
ern brethren, we lose not our right-hand merely, but our very heart's blood. Over 
such an event I should not cease to pour out my prayers and teai^s as over a griev- 
ous and unmitigated calamity. It was in that part of our Zion that God, for 
Christ's sake, converted my soul. There I first entered on the Christian ministry. 
From thence came the beloved, honored brethren who now suri-ound me, with 
whom and among whom I have labored and suffered and rejoiced, and seen the 
doings of the right-hand of the Son of God. If the day shall come when we must 
be separated by lines of demarkation, I shall yet think often of those beyond vrith 
the kindest, warmest feelings of an honest Christian heart. But, sir, I v,'ill yet 
trust that we may put far off' this evil day. If we can pass such a measure as Avill 
shield our principles from all infringement; if we can send forth such a measure 
as will neither injure nor justly offend the South, as shall neither censure nor 
dishonor Bishop Andrew, and yet shall meet the pressing wants of the Church, 
and above all, if Almighty God shall be pleased to help by pouring out his 
Spirit upon us, we may yet avoid the rock on which we now seem but too likely 
to split. 



The Croton Biver Argument. 



631 



A remarkable speech was that by Dr. Hamline, of Ohio — deft- 
ly doyetailed and eloquently spoken; his opponents found it no 
easy task to nicely unravel, and in detail to ansYv^er, the points 
of this speech, admirable for its literary finish and temper/'^' He 
admitted that the argument from "expediency" was out of place 
if the act was unconstitutional; it was never expedient to violate 
law. He considered this a mandamus measure. It wrought a 
suspension or deposition for "improper conduct;" "a summary 
removal from office," not from the ministry, until the cause was 
removed. The General Conference, according to his view, be- 
yond certain restrictions, few and simple, has supreme leg- 
islative, judicial, and executive power. They could not "do away 
episcopacy" — one of the Kestrictive Eules forbids that; but they 
could do as they pleased with an episcopos. A pastor, or pre- 
siding elder, or steward, or class-leader, may be removed from 
a higher to a lower office, or from office altogether, by a supe- 
rior, without notice, trial, or cause assigned. All ranks of of- 
ficers are subjected to summary removals from office for any 
thing unfitting for that office; so a bishop may be deposed from 
office summarily, and for improprieties which, if even innocent 
in themselves, hinder his usefulness. No statutory law was 
needed for this; and if any statutory law stood in their w^ay, they 
could set it aside — such was their supremacy. 

Without entering into the details of this argument, Drs. Smith 
and Winans struck at the substance of it as utterly subversive 
of the rights of the minority, and as nullifying one of the coor- 
dinate branches of the Church government. A General Con- 
ference, acting in a judicial or other capacity, is bound to pro- 
ceed by its own laws, and to observe its own statutes, until prop- 
erly altered; as much so as an inferior judicatory. Whoever 
claims protection according to those statutory laws is constitu- 
tionally entitled to it; otherwise a majority, doing its own will, is 
an unbearable tyranny. The case under consideration, they main- 
tained, was specifically covered and protected by laws and statutes 
which had stood since 1816, and been reiterated, and had so kept 
the peace betvveen the two sections of the Church that the sacred- 
ness of a compromise attached to them. 

*Tlie analysis is well presented in an able discussion: "The Disruption of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, 1844-1846; comprising a thirty years' history of 
the relations of the two Methodisms," by Ed. H. Myers, D.D.; 12mo, pages 216. 



632 



History of Methodism. 



The extreme position on episcopacy wliicli the majority took,* 
in order to justify a course that was felt to be necessary, is thus 
met in the protest of the minority, jjresented after the vote : 

As the Methodist Episcopal Church is now organized, and according to its or- 
ganization since 1784, the episcopacy is a coordinate branch, the executive depart- 
ment proper of the government. A bishop of Methodist Episcopal Church is 
not a mere creature, is in no prominent sense an officer, of the General Conference. 
The bishops are, beyond a doubt, an integral constituent part of the General Con- 
ference, made such by law and the constitution; and because elected by the Gen- 
eral Conference, it does not follow that they are subject to the will of that body, 
except in conformity with legal right and the provisions of law in the premises. 
In this sense, and so viewed, they are subject to tiie General Conference, and this 
is sufficient limitation of their power, unless the government itself is to be consid- 
ered irregular and unbalanced in the coordinate relations of its parts. In a sense 
by no means unimportant the General Conference is as much the creature of the 
episcopacy as the bishops are the creatures of the General Conference. As exec- 
utive offixcers, as well as pastoral overseers, they belong to the Churcli as such, and 
not to the General Conference as one of its organs of action merely. 

Because bishops are in part constituted by the General Conference, the power 
of removal does not follow. Episcopacy, even in the Methodist Church, is not a 
mere appointment to labor. It is an official consecrated station under the protec- 
tion of law, and can only be dangerous as the law is bad or the Church corrupt. 
The power to appoint does not necessarily involve the power to remove; and when 
the appointing pov\'er is derivative — as in tlie case of the General Conference — the 
power of removal does not accrue at all, unless by consent of the coordinate 
branches of the government, expressed by law made and j)rovided in the case. 
"Wiien tlie Legislature of a State— to appeal to analogy for illustration — ap- 
points a judge or senator in Congress, does the judge or senator thereby become 
tiie officer or creature of the Legislature, or is he the officer or senatorial repre- 
sentative of the State, of which the Legislature is the mere organ? And does the 
power of removal follow^ that of appointment? The answer is negative in both 
cases, and applies equally to the bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who, 
instead of being the officers and creatures of the General Conference, are de facto 
the officers and servants of the Church ; and no right of removal accrues, except 
in accordance with the i^rovisions of lavr. But when a bishop is sus]3ended, or in- 
formed that it is the wish or Avill of the General Conference that he cease to j)er- 
form the functions of bishop, for doing what the law of the same body allows him 
to do, and of course without incurring the hazard of i^unishment, or even blame, 
then the whole procedure becomes an outrage upon justice, as well as upon hnv. 

Dr. M}-ers, on the " Disruption," saj's: " The historical development of our episcopacy 
will prove that the bishops are not 'creatures' of the General Conference, and consequently 
mutable functionaries of that body, removable at will, without charge or ti ial. The Methodist 
Episcopal Church— miich less its General Conference— never created its episcopacy. On the 
contrary, the episcopacy organized, and gave ecclesiastical vitality to, a number of ' Societies,' 
and constituted them into the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1788 Mr. Wesley's name was 
insei'ted at the head of our Minutes as the fountain of our episcopal office. Methodism did 
not exist in organic Church-form prior to 178-1, and its bishops existed before it, and reduced 
it to that form." (Myers on the Disruption, page 73.) 



Bishop SouJe's Bemarhs. 



633 



Before debate closed, BisIioxD Soule addressed the Conference. 
As a preliminary, lie read a portion of the Episcox)al Address of 
1840, alluding to similar agitations : 

But can we, as ministers of the gospel, and servants of a Master "whose king- 
dom is not of this world," promote these important objects in any vrav so truly 
and permanently as by pursuing the course just pointed out? Can we, at this 
eventful crisis, render a better service to our country than by laying aside all in- 
t(!rference with relations authorized and established by the civil laws, and apply- 
ing ourselves wholly and faithfully to what speciall}^ aj)pertains to our "high and 
holy calling," to teach and enforce the moral obligations of the gospel, in appli- 
cation to all the duties growing out of the different relations in society? By a 
diligent devotion to this evangelical employment, with a humble and steadfast 
reliance upon the aid of Divine influence, the number of "believing masters" and 
servants may be constantly increased, the kindest sentiments and affections culti- 
vated, domestic burdens lightened, mutual confidence cherished, and the peace 
and happiness of society be promoted. AVhile, on the other hand, if past history 
affords us any correct rules of judgment, there is much cause to fear that the in- 
fluence of our sacred ofiice, if employed in interference with the relation itself, 
and consequently with the civil institutions of the country, will rather tend to 
prevent than to accomiDlish these desirable ends. 

"Sir," said he, "I haye read this extract that the members of 
this General Conference who Yv'ere not joresent at the last session, 
and this listening assembly, who may not have heard it before, 
may understand distinctly the ground on which I, with my col- 
leagues, stand in regard to these questions. The only subject 
which has awakened my sympathies during this whole discus- 
sion is the condition of my suffering brethren of the colored 
race, and this never fails to do it. , No matter where I meet the 
man of color, whether in the South or in the North, with the 
amount of liberty he enjoys, the sympathies of my nature are 
all awakened for him. Could I restore bleeding Africa to free- 
dom, to independence, to the rights — to all the rights — cf man, 
I would most gladly do it. But this I cannot do — you cannot 
do. And if I cannot burst the bonds of the colored man, I will 
not strengthen them. If I cannot extend to him all the good I 
would, I will never shut him out from the benefits which I have 
it in my power to bestow." He addressed himself to the main 
point — the ground assumed alike by the supporters of the orig- 
inal resolution and of the substitute: 

I wish to say explicitly that if the Superintendents are only to be regarded as 
the officers of the General Conference, liable to be deposed at will by a simple 
majority of this body without a form of trial, no obligation existing, growing out 
of the constitution and laws of the Church, even to assign cause wherefore — every 



634 



History of Methodism. 



thing I have to say hereafter is powerless and falls to the ground. But, strange as 
it may seem, although I have had the privilege to be a member of the General 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church ever since its present organization ; 
thougli I was honored with a seat in the convention of ministers which organized 
it, I liave heard for tlie first time, either on the floor of this Conference, in an 
Annual Conference, or through the whole of the private membership of the 
Church, this doctrine advanced; this is the first time I ever heard it. I desire to 
understand my landmarks as a Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church — not 
the Bishop of the General Conference, not the Bishop of any Annual Conference. 
I thought that the constitution of the Cliurch, the solemn vows of ordination, the 
parchment which I hold under the signatures of the departed dead — I thought 
that these defined my landmarks; I thought that these had prescribed my duties. 
Whether this Conference is to sustain the position on which I have acted, or not, 
they are very soon to settle in the vote which is before them ; I mean, they are to 
settle this question, whether it is the right of this body to depose a Bishop of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church — to depose my colleague, to depose me — without a 
form of trial. See ye to that. Without specification of wrong, and by almost 
universal acclamation that Bishop Andrew has been unblamable in his Christian 
character; that he has discharged the duties of his sacred oflice with integrity, 
wdth usefulness, and in good faith — with this declaration before the world, will 
this Conference occupy this position: that they have power, authority, to depose 
Bishop Andrew, without a form of trial, without charge, and v/ithout being once 
called on to answer for himself in the premises (what he did say was voluntary) ? 

Well, brethren, I had understood from the beginning that special provision 
was made for the trial of a bishop. The constitution has provided that no 
preacher was to be deprived of the right of trial, and of the right of appeal ; but, 
sir, if I understand the doctrine advanced and vindicated, it is that you may de- 
pose a bishop witliout the form of trial; you may depose him without any obli- 
gation to show cause. It seems to me that tlie Church has made special provision 
for the trial of the Bishop, for the special reason that he has no appeal. I do not 
hesitate to say to you that if the relation in which I have been placed to tlie 
Methodist Episcopal Church, under solemn vows of ordination, is to stand on the 
voice of a simple majority of this body, without a form of trial, I have some doubt 
whether there is the man on this floor who would be willing to stand in my place. 
You may immolate me, but you cannot immolate me on a Southern altar; you 
cannot immolate me on a JSTorthern altar; I can only be immolated on the altar 
of the union of the Methodist Episcoj^al Church. What do I mean by this ? T 
mean — call it a compact, call it compromise, constitution. Discipline, what you 
will — I mean on the doctrines and provisions of this book, and I consider this as 
the bond of union of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Here, then, I plant my 
feet, and here I stand. I hold that tlie General Conference has an indisputable 
right to arraign at her tribunal every Bishop; to try us there; to find us guilty of 
any offense with which Ave are charged on evidence, and to excommunicate — ex- 
pel us. I am always ready to appear before that body in this regard. I recog- 
nize fully their right. But not for myself, not for these men on my right-hand 
and on my left-hand, but for the Church of God, let me entreat you not to rush 
upon the resolution wliicli is now before you. Posterity, sir, will review your ac- 
tions; history will record them. 



The Last Plan of Peace Fails. 



635 



Bishop So ale's remarks, empliasized by the tone and pres- 
ence and prestige of the speaker, produced a profound effect on 
the members. They remembered that at the age of twenty-seven 
he had drafted the constitution; he had served under it, under- 
stood it, loved it. When on a former occasion that instrument 
was in peril he, more than any other man living, saved it; and 
now again, in old age, he rose erect to its defense. But times 
had changed. Priam's dart vras hurled with the ancient force, 
and hit the mark; but a strange foe confronted him. Some 
who were present have told how the ranks of the majority 
fell back and were broken; nor did they rally until John P. 
Durbin took the floor. He argued concerning the episcopacy: 
""Whence, then^ is it derived? Solely, sir, from the suffrages 
of the General Conference. There, and there only, is the 
source of episcopal power in our Church. And the same pow- 
er that conferred the authority can remove it." With that 
weird power of speech of which he was master, he gathered 
up and re-presented the pleas already made for the action 
invoked, and restored the lines of the x^rosecution. It was a 
noble and unique contest. For the South stood up the Xestor 
from Maine, backed by the minority, pleading for the constitu- 
tion: for the North, the son of Kentucky, Avith the majority at 
his back. 

On May 30, when nearing a vote, the Conference was re- 
quested by Bishop Heclding "to hold no afternoon session, and 
thus allow the Bishops to consult together, with a hope that 
they might be able to present a plan of adjusting our present 
difficulties." "The suggestion," says the journal, "was received 
with general and great cordiality." 

May 31, the Bishops submitted a paper containing their plan. 
Convinced that "disastrous results are the almost inevitable con- 
sequences of present action on the question now pending," they 
unanimously recommend the postponement of further action 
until the next General Conference, when the mind of the whole 
Church, ministers and people, can be known. Meantime Bishop 
Andrew can be fully employed where "his presence and services 
w^ould be welcome and cordial." The next day was fixed for its 
consideration, when Bishop Hedding withdrew his name from the 
paper. He had signed it " because he thou.ght it would be a peace 
measure, but facts had come to his knowledge since which led him 



636 History of MetJwcUsm. 



to believe that siicli would not be the case." The "facts" were 
not published until twenty-five years later. Here was the last 
hope of continued unity. The South supported it to a man, 
and not a few conservatives of the Middle and Northern Con- 
ferences; and all his colleagues stood firmly by it, but Bishop 
Hedding's unaccountable defection so v\'eakened the measure 
that a motion to lay it on the table prevailed by a vote of 95 to 
84:.''^ The Conference soon after came to a vote on Finley's sub- 
stitute, and it was adopted by 111 yeas to 69 nays. Notice was 
given of a protest by the minority, which, in a few days, was 
spread upon the Journal; and this vras followed by a "state- 
ment of the case," or a reply, by the majority. 

June 5tli, Dr. Longstreet offered w^hat is known as the "De- 
claration of the Southern Delegates," which was signed by all 
the delegates (fifty-one) of the slave-holding Conferences, except 
one from Texas. This paper reads: 

The delegates of the Conferences in the slave-holding States take leave to de- 
clare to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church that the con- 
tinned agitation on the subject of slavery and abolition in a portion of the Church, 
and the frequent action on that subject in the General Conference, and especially 
the extrajudicial proceeddngs against Bishop Andrevr, vrhich resulted, on Saturday 
last, in the virtual suspension of him from his office as Superintendent, must pro- 
duce a state of things in the South which renders a continuance of the jurisdiction 
of this General Conference over these Conferences inconsistent with the success of 
the ministry in tJie slave-holding States. 

The communication was referred to a committee of nine — 
Eobert Paine, Glezen Filmore, Peter Akers, Nathan Bangs, 
Thomas Crowcler, Thomas B. Sargent, William T^'inans, Leon- 
idas L. Hamline, James Porter. 

In the JldJwdid Quarterly Reviev: (April, 1S71) Eev. James Porter, a Xew 
England delegate, and one of tlie actors, gives a history of the affair: "The abo- 
litionists regarded this [the proposed council of Bishops] as a most alarming meas- 
ure. Accordingly, the delegates of the Xew England Conferences were immedi- 
ately called together, and after due deliberation unanimously signed a paper de* 
daring in substance that it was tlieir solemn conviction that if Bishop Andrew 
should be left by tlie General Conference in the exercise of episcoj^al functions, it 
would break up most of the Xew England Conferences; and that the only way to 
be holden- togetJier would be to secede in a body, and invite Bishop Hedding to 
preside over tliem." lie could not be seen and informed of this action before the 
Bisliops met; and as the threatening secessionists were afraid (so they say) to call 
him out of the council — believing that it could be construed and used in a way 
to defeat their object — he could not be dissuaded from signing the recommenda- 
tion offered on the following day; but they interviewed him in time to defeat it. 



The Plan of Separation. 



637 



On motion of J. B. McFerrin (of Tennessee), seconded by a 
member of tlie Troy Conference — "BesoIrecJ, That the committee 
appointed to take into consideration the communication of the 
delegates from the Southern Conferences be instructed, provided 
they cannot in their judgment devise a plan for an amicable ad- 
justment of the difficulties noAv existing in the Church on the 
subject of slavery, to devise, if possible, a constitutional plan 
for a mutual and friendly division of the Church." 

The Plan of Separation, as it is called, was adopted June 8th. 
Robert Paine, chairman of the select committee of nine having 
reported it. Dr. Elliot (of Cincinnati) moved its adoption : 

He liad had the opioortunity of examining it, and had done so carefullv. He 
believed it would insure the purposes designed, and would be for the best interests 
of the Church. It was his firm opinion that this was a proper course for them to 
pursue, in conformity with the Scriptures and the best analogies they could col- 
lect from the ancient Churches, as well as from the best organized modern Cliurch- 
es. All history did not furnish an example of so large a body of Christians re- 
maining in such close and unbroken connection as the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
It is now found necessary to separate this large body, for it was becoming un- 
wieldy. He referred to the Churclies at Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, 
which, though they continued as one, Avere at least as distinct as the Methodist 
Episcopal Church would be if the suggested separation took place. T]ie Church 
of England was one under the BishoiDS of Canterbury and A'ork, connected and 
yet distinct. In his own mind it had been for years perfectly clear that to this 
conclusion they must eventually come. Were the question that now unhappily 
agitated the body dead and buried, there would be good reason for passing the res- 
olutions contained in that report. As to their representation in that General 
Conference, one out of twenty was but a meager representation, and to go on as 
they had done it would soon be one out of thirty. And the body vras now too 
large to do business advantageously. The measure contemplated was not schism, 
but separation for their mutal convenience and prosperity. 

Dr. Bangs explained the composition of the committee, as 
formed by three from the South, three from the Middle States, 
and three from the North. "They were also instructed by a res- 
olution of the Conference how to act in the premises; that if 
they could not adjust the difficulties amicably they were to pro- 
vide for separation, if they could do so constitutionally; and aft- 
er two days of close labor, after minute inspection and revision of 
every sentence, they had presented their report, from which the 
Conference would see that they had at least obeyed their instruc- 
tions, and had met the constitutional difficulty by sending round 
to the Annual Conferences that portion of the report which re- 
quired their concurrence." 



638 



History of Methodism. 



The preamble and first two resolutions are in these words: 

Whereas a declaration has been presented to this General Conference, with the 
signatures of fifty-one delegates of the body, from tliirteen Annual Conferences in 
the slave-holding States, representing tliat, for various reasons enumerated, the 
objects and purposes of the Christian ministry and Church organization cannot be 
successfully accomplished by them under the jurisdiction of this General Confer- 
ence as now constituted ; and whereas, in the event of a separation, a contingency 
to which the declaration asks attention as not improbable, we esteem it tlie duty 
of this General Conference to meet the emergency with Christian kindness and 
the strictest equity: therefore, 

1. Resolved, by the delegates of the several Annual Conferences in General Con- 
ference assembled. That should the Annual Conferences in the slave-holding States 
find it necessary to unite in a distinct ecclesiastical connection, the folloAving 
rule shall be observed with regard to the northern boundary of such connection: 
All the societies, stations, and Conferences, adhering to the Church in the South 
by a vote of a majority of the members of said societies, stations, and Conferences, 
shall remain under the unmolested pastoral care of the Southern Cliurch ; and the 
ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church shall in nowise attempt to organize 
churches or societies within the limits of the Church South, nor shall they attempt 
to exercise any pastoral oversight therein; it being understood that the ministry 
of the South reciprocally observe the same rule in relation to stations, societies, and 
Conferences adhering, by vote of a majority, to the Methodist Episcopal Church; 
provided, also, that tliis rule shall apply only to societies, stations, and Confer- 
ences bordering on the line of division, and not to interior charges, which shall in 
all cases be left to the care of that Church within whose territory they are situated. 

2. Resolved, That ministers, local and traveling, of every grade and office in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, may, as they prefer, remain in that Church, or, with- 
out blame, attach themselves to the Church, South. 

The first resolution was adopted by yeas 135, nays 18 ; the sec- 
ond by yeas 139, nays 17. It w^as also provided: "That all the 
property of the Methodist Episcopal Church in meeting-houses, 
parsonages, colleges, schools, Conference funds, cemeteries, and 
of every kind, within the limits of the Southern organization, 
shall be forever free from any claim set up on the part of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, so far as this resolution can be of 
force in the premises." 

The turning over to the proper agents of the Church, South 
(should one be formed), an equitable share of the common prop- 
erty at New York and Cincinnati, and of the Chartered Fund, 
was arranged for, and a common right to use all copyrights that 
had been secured before separation. Commissioners were named, 
and the order and manner of payment planned; and nothing Avas 
left undone that could be foreseen for an equitable settlement 
and an amicable separation. 



The Last Service. 



639 



Apprehending some legal difficulty in dividing the Book Con- 
cern property, which is guarded by a Kestrictive Eule, it was 
formally resolved "that we recommend to all the Annnal Con- 
ferences, at their first approaching sessions, to authorize a 
change of the sixth Eestrictive Article, so that the full clause 
shall read thus: They shall not appropriate the produce of the 
Book Concern, nor of the Chartered Fund, to any purpose other 
than for the benefit of the traveling, supernumerary, superannu- 
ated, and worn-out preachers, their wives, widows, and children, 
cmd to such other purposes as may he determined upon hy tlie votes 
of tuv-thirds of the meml)ers of the Genercd Conference^ This was 
ado|)ted, yeas 146, nays 10. The change proposed was to add 
what is above italicized. This resolution, having thus received 
a two-thirds majority of the General Conference, was already an 
enacted change of the Restrictive Article, so soon as concurred 
in by three-fourths of the voters in the Annual Conferences. 
The final resolution requested the Bishops to lay this resolution 
before the Annual Conferences as soon as possible. 

Two bishops were to be elected, and the last service of the 
conservative South to the yet undivided Church was rendered 
here. The elements that united in the choice of Leonidas L. 
Hamline will readily occur to the reader; but the Southern dele- 
gates brought forward and concentrated on Edmund S. Janes. 
As one of the secretaries of the American Bible Society he had 
become known to them, and none could know him without per- 
ceiving his great worth and abilities. On the last day of this 
stormy session the ordination took place, presided over by the 
senior bishop. The journal says: "Brother Hamline was pre- 
sented by brothers Pickering and Filmore, and Brother J anes 
by brothers Pierce and Capers." 

The South asked for no new law or interiDretation of law ; their 
attitude from beginning to end was: "If Bishop Andrew has 
broken any law, moral or canonical, let him be put on his de- 
fense; bring a charge, specification, proof, and make up a verdict 
accordingly." ' But it better suited the majority to treat the case 
by preamble and resolution. 

None were more unprepared for the turn things took in the 
General Conference of 1844 than the xDerson most concerned. 
First by bequest, and then by inheritance, he h'ad been connected 
with slavery for years; and his last connection (by marriage) 



640 



History of Methodism. 



was the mildest of all. Possibly, in some parts of New England, 
lie thought, there might be a flutter; but Methodists were used 
to that. How surprised, then, was he to find the North and the 
South arrayed over the matter! So great and rapid had been 
the change in the temper of the times. For peace's sake he was 
ready to resign; but when he saw himself a representative man, 
and that his brethren must stand or fall with him, resignation 
was out of the question, and the final issue was joined on his 
case. 

From the gallery of Green Street Church, the redoubtable 
Orange Scott looked down upon a strange scene — he saw men 
valiantly fighting his battles who had once fought him. The few 
original abolitionists in the Conference kept quiet. They had 
put the laboring oar into the hands of the so-called conservatives, 
who were succumbing to the so-called spirit of the age. 

The time to work apart had come. The situation was unman- 
ageable, and every year, on account of certain growing secular 
influences, it was becoming worse. For this a large proportion 
of the Northern delegates were not to be blamed; they had done 
what they could, but had failed to keep their section of the 
Church free from the encroachments of "modern abolitionism." 
They could not help themselves. It was a life and death issue, 
and having a majority they felt they had a right to live. Now, 
having saved themselves, they were disposed to do all in their 
power to relieve those who had been driven to the wall, standing 
on the "Discipline as it is." The Plan of Separation, as con- 
ceived and agreed on, was honorable to both parties; it was a 
healing measure, a fitting farewell to the fifteenth General Con- 
ference of united Episcopal Methodism, and the last.'^ 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



The Louisville Convention — First General Conference — Book Agency — New 
Hymn-book — Bishops Capers and Paine — Troubles with the Plan in the North 
— Fraternal Delegate and Business Commissioners — Pejected — Appealing Unto 
Csesar — Supreme Court Declares the Plan of Sej^aration Valid, and Enforces it 
— Southern Methodist Publishing House — Separation — Peace — Prosperity. 

AT midnight, June lOtli, the General Conference adjourned; 
next day the Southern delegates met, before leaving for 
home, and deliberated on what was best to be done. Letters and 
newspapers received from the South indicated great excitement. 
To prevent undue haste in action, and to forestall divided coun- 
sels, the delegates suggested to their constituents that nothing 
be done till all the Conferences represented could meet in a gen- 
eral convention, and "submitted" to their "consideration" that 
May 1, 1845, would be a suitable time, and Louisville, Kentucky, 
a fit place, for such a convention; and that their delegates — chos- 
en in a certain ratio — be instructed "on the points on which ac- 
tion is contemplated; " the instructions conforming, as far as pos- 
sible, "to the opinions and wishes of the members of the Church." 

They also issued a brief "Address to the Ministers and Mem- 
bers" of their Conferences, conveying authentic information of 
the provisional Plan of Separation, under which relief in a reg- 
ular way could be obtained from Northern jurisdiction, if they 
judged it necessary. "It affords us pleasure," they say, "to 
state that there were those found among the majority who met 
this proposition with every manifestation of justice and liberal- 
ity; and should a similar spirit be exhibited by the Annual Con- 
ferences in the North," when an opportunity to manifest justice 
and liberality is submitted to them by a vote on the Restrictive 
Article, as provided for in the Plan itself, " there will remain no 
legal impediment to its peaceful consummation." 

They deprecated all excitement, and advised that the question 
be approached and disposed of with candor and forbearance. 

This wise prevision was of great worth. Southern Methodism, 
though excited within and pressed upon from without, was kept 
together and found expression of feeling and purpose in regu- 
lar methods. Not only Quarterly and Annual Conferences spoke 
out, but stations and circuits met and considered the matter. 

41 {64:1) 



642 



Histonj of Methodism, 



•Says one who took part in these proceedings, and had oppor- 
tunity of wide observation: "Those who will take the trouble to 
read the utterances of these Conferences will find that the history 
•of the world does not offer a parallel to the unanimity of senti- 
ment, thought, and purpose, which they exhibited on a subject 
of so momentous consequence. Their course was taken reluc- 
tantly, sadly, but firmly, for the glory of God.""^ 

May 1, 1845, a conyention of delegates from Conferences in 
the slave-holding States met in Louisville, Kentucky, and con- 
tinued through twenty days. A Committee on Organization was 
appointed to canvass the acts of the several Annual Conferences; 
to consider the propriety and the necessity of a Southern organ- 
ization, according to the "Plan of Separation;" and also to in- 
quire if any thing had taken place during the year to render it 
possible to maintain the unity of Methodism under one General 
Conference jurisdiction, Avithout the ruin of Southern Methodism. 

On the 15th of May this committee reported these conclusions : 
That the General Conference of 1844 gave full and exclusive 
authority to "the Annual Conferences in the slave-holding 
States " to decide apon the necessity of organizing a separate 
■ecclesiastical Connection in the South; that sixteen such Con- 
ferences were here represented; that it is in evidence that the 
ministry and membership in the South — nearly five hundred 
tliousand — in the proportion of about ninety-five in the hundred, 
deem a division of jurisdiction indispensable; that unless this is 
effected, about a million of slaves, now hearing the gospel from 
our ministers, will be withdrawn from their care; and that, 
while thus taking their position, the Southern Conferences are 
ready and most willing to treat with the Northern division of the 
Church at any time, in view of adjusting the difficulties of this 
controversy upon terms and principles that may be satisfactory 
to both. And then these delegates did solemnly declare the ju- 
risdiction hitherto exercised over the Annual Conferences repre- 
sented in the convention, by the General Conference of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, entirely dissolved; and that said Annual 
Conferences "are hereby constituted a separate ecclesiastical 
Connection," based upon the Discipline of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, " and comprehending the doctrines and entire mor- 
al, ecclesiastical, and economical rules and regulations of said 

*Dr. Myers, on the Disruption of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 



First General Conference. 



643 



Discipline, except only in so far as verbal alterations may be 
necessary to a distinct organization, and to be known by the style 
and title of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.'' 

The First General Conference met in Petersburg, May 1, 1846. 
The body numbered eighty-seven members. On the first day 
Rev. John Early presided, until the arrival of Bishop Andrew. 
On the second day the senior Superintendent of American Meth- 
odism formally announced his adherence: 

Petersburg, May 2, 1846. 

Ke verend and Dear Brethren : I consider your body, as now organized, the con- 
summation of the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in con- 
formity to the "Plan of Separation," adopted by the General Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1844. It is therefore in strict agreement with 
the provisions of that body that you are vested with full power to transact all 
busine.ss appropriate to a Methodist General Conference. 

I view this organization as having been commenced in the "Declaration" of 
the delegates of the Conferences in the slave-holding States, made at New York, 
in 1844; and as having advanced in its several stages in the "Protest," the "Plan 
of Separation," the appointment of delegates to the Louisville convention, in the 
action of that body, in the subsequent action of tlie Annual Conferences, approv- 
ing the acts of their delegates at the convention, and in the appointment of dele- 
gates to this General Conference. 

The organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, being thus com- 
pleted in the organization of the General Conference with a constitutional presi- 
dent, the time has arrived when it is proper for me to announce my position. 
Sustaining no relation to one Annual Conference which I did not sustain to every 
other, and considering the General Conference as the proper judicatory to which 
my communication should be made, I have declined making this announcement 
until the present time. And now, acting with strict regard to the Plan of Sepa- 
ration, and under a solemn conviction of duty, I formally declare my adherence 
to the Metliodist Episcopal Church, South. And if the Conference receive me in 
my present relation to the Church, I am ready to serve them according to the best 
of my ability. In conclusion, I indulge the joyful assurance that although sepa- 
rated from our Northern brethren by a distinct Conference jurisdiction, we shall 
never cease to treat them as "brethren beloved," and cultivate those principles 
and affections which constitute the essential unity of the Church of Christ. 

Joshua Soule. 

On motion of Benjamin M. Drake it was unanimously resolved, 
by a rising vote, that Bishop Soule be received as one of the 
Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

At first it was resolved to have a Book Concern in two divis- 
ions — one in Bichmond and one in Louisville; but this arrange- 
ment gave place to another better suited to the times: "That an 
agent be appointed, whose duty it shall be to provide for the 



644 



Histonj of Methodism. 



supply of books, by contracting vvhere they can be obtained by 
him on the best terms; and that he shall cause such books to be 
deposited at Louisyille, Charleston, and Eichmond, subject to 
the orders of the itinerant preachers in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South." John Early was elected Agent, and the editors 
of the Christian Advocates at Charleston, Eichmond, and Louis- 
ville were made his assistants, and subject to his direction in 
depository matters. A QuarterJij Bevieiv was ordered to be j)ub- 
lished at Louisville, Dr. Bascom editor. A constitution for a 
Church Missionary Society was agreed on, and the Bishops were 
authorized to enter the foreign field by appointing two mission- 
aries to China."^ E. W. Sehon having declined, Edward Steven- 
son was elected Missionary Secretary. To Thomas O. Summers 
vras assigned the editorship of the proposed Sunday-school paper, 
and the principal labor of preparing a revised edition of the 
Hymn-book. It was ordered that three commissioners be ap- 
pointed in accordance with the "Plan of Separation," to act in 
concert with the commissioners appointed for the other Church, 
"concerning our interest in the Book Concern." By ballot H. B, 
Bascom, A. L. P. Green, and S. A. Latta were elected such com- 
missioners, and they were instructed to notify the commissioners 
and Book Agents at New York and Cincinnati of their appoint- 
ment, and of their readiness to settle; and should no settlement 
be effected before 1848, said commissioners shall have author- 
ity "to attend the General Conference of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, to settle and adjust all questions involving proj^erty 
or funds, which may be jDending between the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; and 
should the commissioners appointed by this General Conference, 
after proper effort, fail to effect a settlement as above, then they 
are authorized to take such measures as may best secure the just 
and equitable claims of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
to the property and funds aforesaid." 

May 7th, on the second balloting, Dr. William Capers and Dr. 

^At the next General Conference the Episcopal Address announced the appoint- 
i:ient and the arrival out of "the Eevs. Charles Taylor, M.D., and Benjamin Jen- 
kins, of the South Carolina Conference, to that empire. On looking over the whole 
fit'M open to us in that far-off region, it "svas judged that tlie city of Shanghai 
] resented the most favorable point at which to commence operations; accord- 
irugly, your missionaries were directed to make that their field of labor, till tliey 
should be otherwise instructed.' ' 



Bishops Capers and Paine. 



645 



Tiobert Paine were duly elected bisliops, and on May 14 tliey 
were ordained by Bisliops Soule and Andrew, assisted by Dr. 
Lovick Pierce and Eev. John Early. 

The Conference adjourned May 23, but not without taking this 
action: '^Resolved, by a rising and unanimous vote, That Dr. Lov- 
ick Pierce be, and is hereby, delegated to visit the General Con- 
ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to be held in Pitts- 
burg, May 1, 1848, to tender to that body the Christian regards 
and fraternal salutations of the General Conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South." 

It was suggested by some to expunge or to qualify the old 
section of the Discipline on slavery, but the Conference was sat- 
isfied to reaffirm the deliverances of 1836 and of 1840 as the true 
and proper exposition of that section. The Pastoral Address 
congratulates the Church: 

The changes in the Discipline, if such they can be called, are as few and 
unimportant as the fact and circumstance of a separate ecclesiastical jurisdiction 
would 23ermit. No recognized principle of the Methodism of our fathers has 
been in any way affected by these changes. All the doctrines, duties, and usages 
— the entire creed and ritual of the Churcli before the separation, remain with- 
out change of any kind. And when we reflect that during no period of its his- 
tory has Methodism been the result of preexisting plans and arrangements, 
but always and everywhere a system of moral agency, witliin the limits of 
Scripture authority and precedent, adapting itself, in mere matters of form 
and modes of operation, to the suggestive force of circumstances and tlie ex- 
igence of the times, it is indeed matter not less of gratitude than surprise that 
God, in the gracious, and we believe special, providence extended to us, has 
strangely withheld us from the necessity of greater changes; for they have been 
fewer in number and less important than those of any General Conference since 
1792. 

While all was going well in the South, the Northern delegates, 
on their return, found their constituents divided; some were 
displeased that the South had been put under the necessity of 
seeking separation; others, perhaps a larger number, disap- 
proved of the terms of separation agreed on, as too liberal; and 
both parties, in the end, were offended more or less because the 
South took advantage of the compact to depart, by departing. 
AVhen the Conferences acted upon the recommendation to change 
the sixth Restrictive Rule, a numerical majority, but not three- 
fourths, voted for concurrence. The result is stated thus: For 
concurrence. Northern Conferences, 1,164; Southern, 971; total, 
2,135. For non-concurrence, 1,070. 



646 



Historij of MetJiocUsm. 



It cannot be allowed, for a moment, that these 1,070 were ac- 
tuated by motives of dishonesty. A few, perhaps, repented them 
of their cooperation in setting up the Plan of Separation, and 
lost sight of the man "that sweareth to his own hurt and chang- 
eth not;" two or three editors, unfortunately occupying influ- 
ential positions, wrought confusion; the political elements were 
intensified daily in their opposition to a peaceable adjustment; 
and the severity with which some of the Southern assemblies 
reviewed the bearings and doings of Northern Methodism, when 
declaring in favor of the convention at Louisville, was very ir- 
ritating. Moreover, the idea got out among some well-meaning 
but illogical persons that by defeating that article which pro- 
vided for dividing the Church property, they could defeat the 
Plan itself, and keep the Church from being divided. At an 
early day troubles along the border became active: neither side 
was without fault; and all these things had their influence in 
shaping opinions out of which grew actions. 

The first General Conference of the Northern section of Epis- 
copal Methodism met in Pittsburg, May, 1848. Never was a 
Church synod made up, and never did one meet, under circum- 
stances less favorable for wise and just deliberations. It was a 
reactionary body, elected in a revolutionary period. Most of the 
old members of 1844 were left at home. This General Confer- 
ence pronounced the division unconstitutional; and because of 
this, and because of alleged infractions of the compact on the 
border, and because the change of the Restrictive Rule had 
not received a three-fourths majority, they formally declared the 
Plan of Separation "null and void. ""^ 

Dr. Lovick Pierce was early at the Conference, and addressed 
a respectful note to that body, stating his mission — that he was 
sent to bear to them the Christian salutations of the Church, 

^ It may be gratifying to Methodists of the present generation to know that 
there Avere but few who in 1844 voted for the Plan that in 1848 repudiated it. 
On the rescinding resolution there were 142 votes — 132 ayes, 10 nays. Of the 
voters 41 were at the Conference of 1844; of the 41 there, 11 had voted against 
tlie Plan; of the 30 remaining 5 voted against repudiation; leaving hut 25 out of 
the 132 ayes who repudiated their own action of 1844. If it be said tliat only 
those of the Conference of 1844 who were pledged to repudiation were reelected 
in 1848, it speaks well for the majority of 1844; and while it shows that even 
good men may sometimes mistake policy for principle, it does not make repu- 
diation righteous. (Myers's Disruption of the Methodist Episcopal. Cluirch.) 



The Ap2^eal to Ccesar. 



647 



South, and to assure them that it sincerely desired that the two 
great Wesley an bodies should maintain at all times a warm and 
confiding fraternal relation to each other; and that he ardently 
desired that they, on their part, would accept the offer in the 
same spirit of brotherly love and kindness. 

After two days the reply was: "Whereas there are serious 
questions and difficulties existing between the two bodies, there- 
fore resolved that while we tender to Rev. Dr. Pierce all per- 
sonal courtesies, and invite him to attend our sessions, this Gen- 
eral Conference does not consider it proper at present to enter 
into fraternal relations with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South." 

Dr. Pierce duly acknowledged the offer of a personal courtesy, 
but declined it, saying: " Within the bar I can only be known in 
my official character." And he added: "You will therefore re- 
gard this communication as final on the part of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South. She can never renew the offer of fra- 
ternal relations between the two great bodies of Wesley an Meth- 
odists in the United States. But the proposition can be re- 
newed at any time, either now or hereafter, by the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. And if ever made upon the basis of the 
Plan of Separation, as adopted by the General Conference of 
1844, the Church, South, will cordially entertain the proposition." 

The commissioners of the Church, South, reported themselves 
present "to adjust and settle all matters" pertaining to the divis- 
ion of the Church property and funds. It need hardly be stated 
how they fared at the hands of a body whose record no candid 
man, of whatever name or nation, can think on with pleasure. 

On a critical occasion St. Paul said, " I appeal unto Caesar." 
Nothing else was left Southern Methodists. Suits were brought 
in the United States Circuit Courts of New York and of Ohio, 
in 1849, for the pro rata property in New York and Cincinnati. 
In the New York suit, decision was given in favor of the Church, 
South. The case in Cincinnati went adversely to the Church, 
South; and it was carried to the Supreme Court of the United 
States, where, on April 25, 1854, by a full bench of eight justices 
— Judge McLean, a Methodist, who had already expressed his 
opinion, declining to sit in the case — the judgment of the Ohio 
Circuit Court was unanimously reversed, and the Plan of Sepa- 
ration was enforced in all of its provisions and particulars. 



648 



History of Methodism. 



By this decision the Church, South, held control of the print- 
ing establishments in Eichmond, Charleston, and Nashville. To 
them were transferred the debts due from persons residing 
within the limits of their Annual Conferences, and in addition 
$270,000 was paid their agents in cash, the defendants also pay- 
ing the costs of the suit. 

Southern Methodists were less concerned for the pecuniary 
outcome of this painful lawsuit than for its judicial an(;l moral 
vindication before the whole world. Party spirit ran high; of- 
fenses increased on both sides; and the presses and leaders of 
the Church, North, busily represented the Church, South, as a 
schism, a secession; for the former they assumed the title and 
claim of "the Mother Church," "the Old Church,"- while the 
latter was represented as unauthorized, illegitimate, having no 
lot nor part in original Methodism. The pleadings before that 
highest and impartial civil judicatory — the Supreme Court — 
covered the whole controversy. The journals of the General 
Conferences of 1844, 1846, and 1848 were before them, and of 
the Louisville convention of 1845 ; the Discipline figured largely 
before Caesar; and great lawyers, prompted by Smith and Green 
on the one side, and by Bangs and Peck on the other, made 
themselves minutely acquainted with the details and genius of 
Episcopal Methodist government. They had a patient hearing 
before a bench renowned in jurisprudence, accustomed to con- 
strue contracts, and uncommitted; for the only Methodist among 
them, a native of Vermont and a citizen of Ohio, stood aloof. 

The decision of the Supreme Court, after wading through legal 
preliminaries, strikes the case thus: 

In the year 1844, the traveling preachers, in General Conference assembled, for 
causes which it is not important particularly to refer to. agreed upon a plan for 
the division of the Methodist Episcopal Church in case the Annual Conferences 
in the slave-holding States should deem it necessary; and to the erection of two 
separate and distinct ecclesiastical organizations. ... In the following year 
the Southern Annual Conferences met in convention, in pursuance of the Plan of 
Separation, and determined upon a division, and resolved that the Annual Con- 
ferences should be constituted into a separate ecclesiastical connection, based ujjon 

'^k negro exhorter answered this well enough. He was being chaffed by a zealous proso- 
lyter for belonging to a " secess^ion Church," and invited to join the "old Methodist Churcli." 
Uncle Joe replied: " Ef I take my maul an' wedge an' split open a tree, anybody can tell 
which is the biggest half, liut who can tell which is the oldest half? " It is to be regretted 
that the elegant and entertaining pages of Dr. Stevens's History of Methodism, written as late 
as 1S67, are disfigured, not to say discredited, by the frequent use of such an expression as 
" the secession of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South."' 



Supreme Court Decision. 



649 



the Discipline of the Methodist Episcojial Church, and to be known by the name 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Sontli. . . . The division of the Church, 
as originally constituted, thus became complete; and from this time two separate 
and distinct organizations have taken tlie place of the one previously existing. 

But the Cli-urch, North, argued that the Southern claimants, 
belonging now to another ecclesiastical organization, had forfeit- 
ed all right to the property; the division of the Church was made 
without proper authority; and however worthy and needy mem- 
bers of the Church, South, might be, they came no longer under 
the description of persons contemplated as beneficiaries when 
the fund in disioute was founded, and it would be a perversion to 
give it to them. The court thus disposes of this argument: 

This argument, we apprehend, if it proves any thing, jDroves too much ; for if 
sound, the necessary consequence is that the beneficiaries connected with the 
Church, North, as well as South, have forfeited their right to the fund. It can no 
more be affirmed, either in point of fact or of law, that they are traveling preach- 
ers in connection with the Methodist Church as originally constituted, since the 
division, than of those in connection with the Church, South. Their organization 
covers but about half of the territory embraced within that of the former Church, 
and includes within it but a little over two-thirds of the traveling preachers. 
Their General Conference is not the General Conference of the old Church, nor 
does it represent the interest, or possess territorially the authority, of the same; 
nor are they the body under whose care this fund was placed by its founders. It 
may be admitted that, within the restricted limits, the organization and authority 
are the same as the former Church ; but the same is equally true in respect to the 
Church, South. If the division under the direction of the General Conference 
has been made without the proper authority, and for that reason the traveling 
preachers within the Southern division are wrongfully separated from their con- 
nection with the Church, and thereby have lost the character of beneficiaries, 
those within the Northern division are equally wrongfully separated from that 
connection, as both have been brought into existence by the same authority. 

But we do not agree that this division was made without the proper authority. 
On the contrary, we entertain no doubt but that the General Conference of 1844 was 
competent to make it ; and that each division of the Church, under the separate or- 
ganization, is just as legitimate, and can claim as high a sanction, ecclesiastical and 
temporal, as the Methodist Episcopal Church first founded in the United States. 
The authority which founded that Church in 1784 has divided it, and established 
two separate and independent organizations, occupying the place of the old one. 

The most humiliating feature in all this affair was the dispute 
about property. The South voted unanimously for concurrence ; 
the lack of votes w^as in Northern and Western Conferences. 
To the deep chagrin of multitudes of right-minded Methodists 
everyAvhere, this hitch was made, and the Northern Agents found 
themselves, as they believed, without authority to settle. It 



650 



History of MetJiodism. 



was an awkward fix of tlieir own procuring: the delay gave 
rise to bad blood; excuse, however, can be found for it: but 
impartial history will find it hard to excuse the dominant party 
for trying to take advantage of their own blunder. Instead of 
seeking an enabling act to promote an equitable settlement with 
their Southern brethren, they sought to disfranchise and dis- 
honor them, because the Restrictive Rule had not been changed. 
The court cut that knot, and found a way to do justice : 

It has also been urged, on the part of the defendants, that the division of the 
Church, according to the Plan of Separation, was made to depend not only upon 
the determination of the Southern Annual Conferences, but also upon the consent 
of the Annual Conferences North, as well as South, to a change of the sixth Re- 
strictive Article; and as tliis was refused, the division which took place was un- 
authorized. But this is a misapprehension. The change of this Article was not 
made a condition of the division. That depended alone upon the decision of the 
Southern Conferences. The division of the Methodist Episcopal Church having 
thus taken place in pursuance of the proper authority, it carried with it, as mat- 
ter of law, a division of the common property belonging to the ecclesiastical or- 
ganization, and especially of the property in this Book Concern, which belonged 
to the traveling preachers. 

It has been argued, however, that according to the Plan of Separation, the di- 
vision of the proi^erty in this Book Concern was made to depend upon the vote of 
the Annual Conferences to change the sixth Eestrictive Article, and that, what- 
ever might be the legal effect of the division of the Church upon the common 
property otherwise, this stipulation controls it, and prevents a division until the 
consent is obtained. 

We do not so understand the Plan of Separation. It admits the right of the 
Church, South, to its share of the common property, in case of a separation, and 
provides for a partition of it among the two divisions, upon just and equitable 
principles; but regarding the sixth Eestrictive Article as a limitation upon the 
power of the General Conference, as it respected a division of the property in the 
Book Concern, provision is made to obtain a removal of it. The removal of this 
limitation is not a condition to the right of the Church, South, to its share of the 
property, but is a step taken in order to enable the General Conference to com- 
plete the partition of the property. 

We will simply add that, as a division of the common property followed, as 
matter of law, a division of the Church organization, nothing short of an agree- 
ment or stipulation of the Church, South, to give up their share of it, could pre- 
clude the assertion of their right ; and it is quite clear no such agreement or stip- 
ulation is to be found in the Plan of Separation. 

And the judges thus end the matter: "Without pursuing the 
case any farther our conclusion is, that the complainants, and 
those they represent, are entitled to their share of the property 
in this Book Concern; and the proper decree will be entered to 
carry this decision into effect." 



Seixi I ri fion — Peace — Pi 'ospe rify. 



651 



Funds in hand, Southern Methodists at the first opportunity 
(1854) set up a Publishing House in Xashville. Changes and war 
have been against it, but it has done an incalculable amount of 
good in disseminating Christian literature, and shows a sound and 
prosperous condition in the centenary year. Xorthern Method- 
ists suryived the settlement and, after a brief season of contrac- 
tion, expanded their Book Concern operations into dimensions 
that rival the great secular establishments of the country. John 
Dickins's little Book Boom, the contents of which might have 
been hauled in a cart, has been like the grain of mustard-seed. 

Both sections of the Church prospered. In 184:6 the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, South, had 455,217 members; in 1860, this 
number had grown, with proportionate church accommodations, to 
749,068. In the same period the Methodist E]3iscopal Church 
had gro^vn from 614,229 members to 988,523. The per cent, of 
annual increase was very nearly the same in each. 

These are the words of the wise and good Bisho^D Morris: 
"If the Plan of Se^^aration had been carried out in good faith 
and Christian feeling on both sides, it would scarcely have been 
felt any more than the division of an Annual Conference." 

^Tliis term is used henceforth not as designating the originiil Chiircli of tliut 
name, for such it is not; but tJie portion of ii not inckided in the Methodist Epis- 
copal Churcli, South. Each, in its sphere, is the "old Cliarch.'" 



CHAPTER XLV. 



California — Conferences on the Pacific Coast — Foreign Missions — China — Gener- 
al Conference of 1850 — Bishop Bascom — His Death: Bishops Pierce, Kava- 
naugh, and Early — Education — The Old Controversy Transferred to the jSTorth: 
How it Ended — Saved by War from Impending Disaster. 

THE acquisition of California from Mexico, followed soon by 
the discovery of gold on the Pacific slope, produced an ab- 
normal movement of population westAvard; it might be called the 
American crusades. People poured across the plains, a weary 
and dusty march of many months; or they took the longer and 
quicker route by Panama and Chagres, seeking the golden 
coast. This sudden occupation of California and Oregon led to 
the survey and more gradual occupation of all the region lying 
between the Mississippi and the farthest West, from Montana 
down to Arizona. Here was a field for home missions, and Meth- 
odism was expected to keep up with the emigrants. The rude, and 
often dangerous, circumstances of the missionary perpetuated 
the heroic spirit of the itinerancy. In February, 1850, Rev. Dr. 
Boring, of Georgia, superintendent of the mission, accompanied 
by two assistants, sailed for San Francisco, by way of Panama, 
well supplied with standard Methodist and Sunday-school publi- 
cations and with copies of the Bible furnished by the American 
Bible Society."^ They landed safely and proceeded to work with- 
out delay. Their progress exceeded their own expectations. The 
difiiculty they had to encounter lay in the want of men. Circuits 
were formed and members enrolled and classed; but in the ab- 
sence of pastors to care for it, much favorably projected work 
fell through; for nothing stood still in that day. By and by the 
Churches moved up to this sudden demand, and California was 
supplied with preachers as well as gold-diggers. In April, 1852, 
the Pacific Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 

"^A. M. AVynn, of Georgia, and D. Y\. Pollock, of Missouri: followed (1852) 
by J. C. Simmons, Blytlie, Evans, Davies, Pendergrast, Saunders, Lockley, and 
Coxe. In 1855 went out Fitzgerald, Fisher, Stewart, Moore, Fulton, Ellis, and 
others from the Southern States. Many of these, after longer or shorter service, 
returned; others remained and, with an efficient ministry raised up there, helped 
to claim that land for Christ. The Hon. and Pev. D. O. Shattuck went out early 
from Louisiana, and has been eminently serviceable to the cause. 
(652) 



California^ Oregon, and China. 



653 



was organized in San Francisco. The year following Bishop 
Soule presided over the Conference, when five hundred and 
thirty-seven members were reported, and $1,200 missionary mon- 
ey was collected.* The statistics of 1883 show seventy traveling 
preachers, forty-seven local, four thousand four hundred and 
eighty white, eight colored, and seven Indian members, with 
Pacific College located at Santa Rosa. 

At a later date the almost limitless territory north of California 
was organized into the Columbia Conference, including Oregon, 
and Idaho and Washington Territories, with their college at Cor- 
vallis. That eminent field-preacher, Orceneth Fisher, led the 
way into Oregon, after exercising a powerful and evangelical 
ministry in the North-west and then in Texas. And later 
still the Los Angeles Conference was organized, one district of 
which includes Arizona. The two last are largely missionary 
fields, and the distances and labors and sacrifices encountered 
in serving them call to mind the scenes of Church-planting 
when "the West" lay between the Alleghany Range and the 
Mississippi River. 

AVhen the division took place the Methodism of America had 
no representative in any foreign field except Liberia and Buenos 
Ayres. The great masses of heathenism "in the regions be- 
yond" lay untouched, and no effort had been made by Episco- 
pal Methodists to approach them. Both divisions of the Church 
felt the pressure of the demand about the same time. The 
Northern branch sent Rev. Messrs. White and Collins, who 
reached Foo Chow in August, 1847. In September, 1848, Dr. 
Charles Taylor, of the Southern branch, landed at Shanghai. 
He was soon joined by Rev. Benjamin Jenkins, who for several 
years had been connected with the publication of the Christian 
Advocate at Charleston. It was supposed that being a practical 
printer, and having linguistic talent, he would be serviceable to 
the projected mission. Shanghai was regarded as the most eli- 
gible of all the consular ports in China. It was the emporium of 
European and American trade with the North of China, the out- 
port of the central provinces, and port of entry for Tartary. 
The population of the city was reckoned at over two hundred 
thousand, and that of the province to which it belonged was esti- 

* Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, by A. W. V/ilson, D.D. ; 
12mo, pages 144: 1882. 



654 



Histonj of Methodism. 



mated at tliirty-fiye million. It was Avithin easy reach o£ Su- 
cliow, the most cultivated city in the province, and in constant 
communication with a dense population in villages, cities, and 
country-places, stretching away into the interior. 

The missionaries got into quarters, struggled with the difficul- 
ties of the language, and in January, 1850, the first public serv- 
ice was held by Dr. Taylor. Into their small chapel the people, 
as they passed by, were invited to enter and hear the "Jesus 
doctrine." The first fruit of their labors is reported by Mr. Jen- 
kins, in 1851. The man who served him as teacher applied for 
Christian baptism about six months after his engagement com- 
menced. He conducted himself with great propriety, and made 
such progress in Christian knowledge that in January, 1852, he 
was baptized, together with his wife. Liew, as his name was 
called, might be taken as a kind of first-fruits, a sample of what 
is possible among the people who make up a quarter of the hu- 
man race. His mental force, his moral worth, and his power of 
speech were reckoned at a high rate; and his death, after useful 
service as a preacher, was a comfortable, a triumphant demon- 
stration of the power of the gospel to save. None superior to 
this first convert has since appeared in the native Church. 

Re enforcements of able and consecrated men from time to time 
followed, and though sad inroads were made upon the mission 
families by the climate, a remnant always remained to hold the 
ground."^ The returning missionaries largely compensated for 
their loss abroad by scattering information at home, and keeping 
alive the public interest. The missionaries planned wisely, for 
preaching and teaching, for itinerating in the regions accessible, 
and distributing the printed truth. Their schools — including 
girls' — were prosecuted Avith diligence and patience, in which 
their wives sometimes excelled as teachers. 

In 1858 a treaty was concluded between Great Britain and 
China which fell out to the furtherance of the gospel. It opened 
the whole empire to missionaries, and guaranteed their protec- 

G. E. Cunnyngham, of Holston, sailed from New York in May, and ar- 
rived in Shanghai in October, 1852. The following year three were added to the 
mission — D. C. Kelley, of Tennessee; 3. L. Belton, of Alabama; and J. W. Lam- 
buth, of Mississippi. In December, 1859, Young J. Allen, of Georgia, and M. L. 
Wood, of North Carolina, sailed from New York for Shanghai. All these were 
accompanied by their families. (See Bishop A. W. Wilson's History of Missions 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.) 



General Conference of 1850. 



655 



tion; and the United States Goyernment also entered into a treaty 
which secured to onr citizens all the privileges and rights grant- 
ed to those of any other nation. Thus the great obstacle to the 
propagation of the gospel in China was finally taken out of the 
way, and henceforth there was nothing to contend with but the 
evil incident to the heathen conditions of human nature. 

The second General Conference met in St. Louis, May, 1850, 
and continued in session but two Aveeks, on account of the pres- 
ence of cholera in the city. One member died, and the sick-list 
was so large that, in an important election, balloting by proxy was 
allowed. The report of Dr. Pierce, fraternal delegate, was re- 
ceived and approved; and the three commissioners also gave in- 
formation of the progress of their business, and were approved. 
The Joint Board of Finance was recommended by this Confer- 
ence; subsequently, it became law. It provides that an equal 
r umber of traveling preachers and laymen — one from every dis- 
trict — take charge of the money matters of each Annual Confer- 
ence; make estimates and assessments for the coming year; and 
distribute funds collected for the relief of superannuated preach- 
ers and for widows and orphans. 

The Quarterly Eevieiv was removed to Richmond, and D. S. 
Doggett appointed editor; E. W. Sehon, Missionary Secretary; 
John Early was continued Book Agent; and Thomas O. Sum- 
mers V, as appointed Book Editor and editor of Sunday -school 
Journal. Henry B. Bascom was elected Bishop, and ordained 
May 12th.''^ The journal says: "The venerable senior superin- 
tendent, Bishop Soule, who was brought to the church in great 
feebleness, took the lead in the laying on of hands, though scarce- 
ly able to pronounce the formula." 

The career of Henry B. Bascom as preacher and educator and 
author was brilliant ; and as Bishop, brief. He was born in West- 
ern New York, 1796. f His mother was of German extraction— 
the Bidleman family. He says: " I have known few women who 
possessed a larger share of the poetry of feeling." The son of 
poor parents, his heritage was toil and privation. His school 
advantages ended in his twelfth year, and he was boring log- 

* On first ballot 100 voted. For Henry B. Bascom, 47 ; J. Boyle, 14; George F. 
Pierce, 14; John Early, 10; Winans, 8. On second ballot Bascom received 59. 

t Within two miles of Chehocton village, on the New York and Erie Eail- 
road. (Henkle's Life of Bascom.) 



656 



History of Methodism. 



pumps to make a living and help his parents, at fifteen. He was 
conyerted the year before, and walked ten miles to the meeting 
at which he joined the Church. Still farther westward the fam- 
ily make their home; and while boring logs in Ohio, Bascom 
held prayer-meetings and began to preach. In 1813 he was ad- 
mitted into the traveling connection, at Steubenville, mounted on 
a horse which he had paid for by splitting rails for a neighbor. 
TTilliam McMahon took charge of him on the way to Conference, 
shared his room with him, loved him alwaj^s, and thus described 
him : " Well grown, of fine appearance, very pious, sprightly and 
intelligent for a lad of his years and limited opportunities." 

Hard circuits were his portion and probation for a long time. 
Tall and well-proportioned, a model of manly dignity and beau- 
ty, he could not heljD looking well, even in coarse apparel; and 
the brethren thought him proud. He hardly deserved to be 
praised for magnanimity, since by nature he was incapable of 
meanness. Henry Clay procured, unknown to him, his election as 
chaplain to Congress. Though the usual defects of self-educa- 
tion, however thorough, showed themselves in his style, they 
were as motes in the sunbeam. Xo pulpit orator in his daj^ had 
an equal fame. At the General Conference of 1810 he preached, 
and one who could well appreciate the occasion gave this account: 

He preaclied in tlie Light Street Church to as dense a throng as could crowd 
into the spacious building — the adjoining street being filled with people who could 
not find entrance into the church. His text was, "Behold the Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sin of the world." The sermon embraced all the cardinal ele- 
ments of the Christian system, set forth in a light so vivid, under illustrations so 
overpoweringly magnificent, and with a vehemence so rushing and pauseless as to 
hold the vast audience spell-bound. At particular passages, several of which we 
distinctly remember, the efiect was awful. The sentences came like the sharp, 
zigzas lightning; the tones of the preacher's voice were like articulate thunder. 
The hearer cowered under the weight of thought piled on thought, and was driv- 
en almost beside himself by the raj^id whirl of dazzling imagery. The sermon, 
artistically considered, had the strange fault of being too great. It covered too 
vast a field of thought, it was marred by excess of grandeur. You were bewil- 
dered by the quick succession of vivid pictures thrown ofl^ as by the turn of a grand 
kaleidoscope. The impassioned fervor of the preacher seemed too self-consuming.* 

Bascom was never heard in deliberative assemblies; his state- 
ly craft did not affect the chopping seas of debate. But it was a 
popular error that his superiority lay in speaking only. His ec- 
clesiastical state i^apers are of the first rank. He wrote the 



* Dr. AVightman (editor) in Southern Christian Advocate. 



Henry B. Bascom. 



657 



Protest; as chairman of the Committee of Thirty, on organiza- 
tion, in the Louisville convention, he was the author of that mas- 
terly report; and he wrote other papers in the controversy, v/hich 
are models of mental grasp and perspicuity and force. Pressed 
by his necessities, he consented to publish a volume of sermons. 
Editions amounting to twenty thousand copies were sold. Heavy 
expenses and a narrow income pressed sorely upon Bascom's 
spirit all his days; yet he refused the offers, many and tempting, 
that would turn him away from a simple Methodist preacher's 
lot. His devotion to his father in sickness and poverty was 
beautiful. The time that was saved in the vacations of college, 
and from the eager demands of admiring congregations who 
often forgot to meet his expenses, was spent in the cabin a few 
miles from the Ohio, opposite Maysville, ministering to the de- 
crepit jjarent's infirmities. He cut and hauled wood from the 
forest to warm the household; and to make himself a wakeful 
nurse, he slept on a bench, with a block of wood for his pillow. 
He was with his father at his death, which he described to a 
friend. Having received the sacrament at his son's hand, " he 
enjoyed it greatly, thanking God for the precious privilege. 
'Now, my son, I am ready to depart and be with Christ. But 
your mother (step-mother) and the children — will you take 
care of them?' 'Father,' said I, 'do you doubt it?' 'No, 
Henry, no; I should not have asked you — I know you will. But 
one thing more — bury me beside your mother. And do you 
recollect that she was buried by moonlight, in consequence 
of a detention at the house?' 'I recollect it well,' said 1. 'The 
moon gives light now, Henry, does it not?' he continued. I 
answered affirmatively. ' Well then, bury me by moonlight, be- 
side your mother.' On being assured that it should be done as he 
wished, an ineffable light spread over his countenance, and whis- 
pering his farewell to the family, he calmly fell asleep in Jesus." 

He preached his own ordination sermon, on the "Cross of 
Christ," and descending from the pulpit took vows from which 
Heaven soon released him. The first and only Conference he 
presided over was the St. Louis, which met at Independence, 
July 10,1850. The weather was warm; the ri^er was low, and 
cholera prevailed through its valley. After much detention he 
reached the Conference on Saturday. For several years he had 
been reading his sermons, but now, more careful for his example 
42 



658 



History of Methodism. 



than liis reputation, lie threw aside manuscripts, and on Sunday 
preached in a grove adjoining the city to an immense multitude. 
"He disappointed us, but most agreeably," reported a hearer. 
" Without a single note he gave a most clear and plain exposi- 
tion of the sacred text, adapted to the comprehension of every 
mind." In the last days of July he returned to St. Louis sick; 
preached two hours on Sunday, and "greatly exhausted himself." 
On his way home he reached Louisville August 2, but was una- 
ble to proceed to Lexington; and there, in the house of his old 
and intimate friend, Dr. Stevenson, he died peacefully, Septem- 
ber 8th, with this testimony: "All my trust and confidence is in 
Almighty Goodness, as revealed in the cross of Christ. " 

The bequest (in 1850) of Eev. Benjamin Wofford, of South 
Carolina, of 8100,000, for the purpose of "establishing and en- 
dowing a college for literary, classical, and scientific education," 
under the control of the South Carolina Conference, marked an 
era. It was the largest personal offering that had been made 
to the Church by any Methodist in America, at that date. The 
•college at Spartanburg, Avitli a well-selected corps of instructors, 
was opened in 1854, and bears the worthy name of its founder. 
This munificence was exceeded soon after by Mrs. Eliza Garrett, 
of Illinois, who founded Garrett Biblical Institute, at Evanston, 
jiear Chicago, which was opened in 1855. It was under Dr. 
Dempster's direction, who had previously put into successful 
operation the Concord Biblical Institute in the East — the first 
of its kind in the United States. The English Methodists, since 
1834, had been training home, and especially foreign, laborers in 
"the Wesleyan Theological Institution for the improvement of 
junior preachers;" and of their centenary offering in 1839 they 
gave $137,500 to their two theological institutions — one at Dids- 
bury and the other at Bichmond. 

The Methodists of Alabama emulated these examples by es- 
tablishing a college at Auburn, and also by building and en- 
dowing the Southern University at Greensboro. The Manual 
Labor School, at Covington, Georgia, had given rise to Emory 
College, which rivaled the State University. In South-western 
Virginia, Emory and Henry College had taken its place among 
the most useful. Bandolph Macon was reaching out after 
its 8100,000 endowment; Texas rejoiced in the prosperity of 
Soule College, at Chapel Hill; and Missouri was doing well with 



Educational — BisJicps Pierce, Earhj, and Kavanaiigh. 659 



St. Charles and Central Colleges; and Kentucky had made a good 
beginning at Millersburg. La Grange College had been trans- 
ferred from the mountain to the railroad town of Florence, 
where handsome buildings had been prepared for it, under an- 
other name, and its halls were full of students. The buildings 
and outfit of the Louisiana State College at Jackson had passed 
into the hands of a denomination whose energy and numbers gave 
to the public satisfactory promise of working it successfully— 
something the State had failed to do — and under the name of 
Centenary College, was being well patronized by the Mississippi 
and Louisiana Conferences. Female schools and colleges, of ex- 
cellent grade, were so distributed throughout the land that the 
educational facilities of Methodism from 1840 to 1860 were quite 
abreast of the age.* 

An interesting question before the General Conference of 1854 
at Columbus, Georgia, was the policy and location of the Pub- 
lishing House. The episcopal college was strengthened by the 
election of George F. Pierce, John Early, and Hubbard H. Kav- 
anaugh. Having located the Boards and Publishing House in 
Nashville, the General Conference readily consented to hold its 
next session there, to see > how they fared; and after a session of 
harmony and healthful interest, the General Conference of 1858, 
with congratulations and thanksgivings as to the state and out- 
look of the Church, adjourned, having selected New Orleans as 
the place of meeting for its successor. 

In the northern section of Episcopal Methodism there was a 
spirit of enlargement and activity. A mission was established 

"The fate of Angosta was due to a mistake which must often happen when lo- 
cations are fixed before tlie lines of travel and the affinities of population are fi- 
nally determined. The grand old College was left high and dry on the south 
bank of the Ohio River; for when its patronizing Conferences on both sides ceased 
to cooperate, it suited neither, and there was no local patronage. Asbury Uni- 
versity, at Greencastle, Indiana, and the Oliio Wesleyan, at Delaware, drew away 
from it in that direction; and the Kentuckians turned to Transylvania, at Lexing- 
ton. But Augusta College did not die before doing a work, through a quarter of a 
century, that can never die. Negotiations for making Transylvania University a 
connectional institution extended from 1840 to 1850; at one time, with promise 
of success. But the transfer, as accomplished, only embraced one, instead of its 
three departments — the academic, or Morrison College — and that was found to be 
mortgaged. As a mere college, it came into competition with others as good. Its 
nominal connectionalism excused local apathy. Dr. Bascom gave seven years of 
valuable labor to it, and ten to Augusta. 



660 



History of Methodism. 



in India (1856), wliicli though endangered, happily escaped de- 
struction from the Sepoy rebellion; and it has prospered. At- 
tention to the spiritual wants of immigrants from Germany, 
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, who were crowding into the 
North and North-west, was rewarded by success at home, and a 
reflex influence upon the countries from which they came. 
Episcopal visitations to Liberia were made at such cost and peril 
tliat a colored minister of that Conference — Francis Burns — was 
made missionary bishop in 1856. 

One restless, ever-growing trouble afflicted that section of the 
Church — slavery. Many Methodists in Delaware and Maryland, 
and a smaller number in Yirginia, being on the border, adhered 
to that side; and until the line became fixed as Ioav down as 
possible, abolition agitation was suppressed. " The Discipline 
as it is" was now the rallying cry of the Baltimore, Philadel- 
phia, and Ohio Conferences, and the two former gave their peo- 
ple solemn assurances that they would never submit to any 
change that looked to making non-slave-holding a terra of mem- 
bership. A well-informed authority says of the decade after the 
division: "There was a temporary suspension of anti-slavery ac- 
tivity, caused by sympathy with the general solicitude for the 
peace and harmony of the border. The official papers of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church were very full and explicit in their 
assurances, also, that there would be no change in its Discipline on 
that question." '^In 1852, at the General Conference in Boston, 
Bishop Hedding having died and Bishop Hamline, a man of fever- 
ish eloquence and hypochondriacal humor, having illustrated his 
own doctrine by resignation, the episcopal bench of the Church, 
North, was greatly strengthened by the election of Levi Scott, 
Matthew Simpson, Edward E. Ames, and Osmon C. Baker. 
The Southern border, began now to be uneasy, and to realize its 
attitude; four years later it had to contend for toleration, and 
four years after that, for existence. 
t AYhile professing to abhor slavery, the Church, North, held on 
to all the slave-holders who would adhere at first, and sought to 
take in as many as possible afterward. The organization of an An- 
nual Conference in Kentucky was under consideration at Boston. 
Heman Bangs, with forcible irony, said: "What do you want 
to go there for? Have they not Methodist doctrine and Meth- 

^ The Anti-slavery Struggle and Triumph, by Matlack, Chapter XVII. 



Slavery Troubles in the North. 



661 



cJist discipline and Methodist institutions already? What do 
you want to go there for? If it is to get more of these misera- 
ble slave-holders into our Church, then I am opposed to it. 
Haven't we enough of them already?" This brought Mr. Col- 
lins, of Baltimore, to his feet. " He could have no fellowship with 
the cant that had been uttered here about 'these miserable slave- 
holders.' No; he would bring them in and make them members 
of our body, and their servants too. It would make them better 
masters and better servants." Mr. Porter, of New England, was 
candid enough to say: "Those slave-holders who are in the 
Church were understood to be there by toleration rather than by 
right. It was matter of grievance, matter of profound regret, 
that there was one in the Church, and that our anti-slavery 
friends were under the necessity every four years of praying us 
to put a stop to slavery. Is it true that we are trying to tow 
others in ? God forbid ! " " 

Nevertheless, with mission funds, the Conference in Kentucky 
V\^as created — seventy-seven yeas to sixty-six nays; and subse- 
quently another in Arkansas and in Missouri. In 1856 the Epis- 
copal Address suggested the careful handling of a certain sub- 
ject, because as a result of their policy "we have six Annual 
Conferences which are wholly or in part in slave territory." 

The old controversy, as transferred to the Church, North, lost 
none of its earnestness and progressiveness. The signs of ad- 
vanced action were so strong, before the quadrennial meeting in 
1856, that the principal Church paper — the Christian Advocate 
at New York — then edited by one who had misled his friends 
into an untenable and a false position, used this language: 
"We did intimate that if the next or any subsequent General 
Conference should enact a rule of discipline excluding all slave- 
holders from the Church, whatever be their character or circum- 
stances, it would become the duty of the border Conferences to 
disregard the rule." The committee of that General Conference 
did bring in a report recommending a change in the Rule on slav- 
ery so as to make non-slave-holding a condition of membership. 
This required a two-thirds majority to put it on its passage in 
the Annual Conferences, and a three-fourths vote from them. A 
shorter route proposed was, to pass a statutory law, by a majority, 
having the same effect. The eager abolitionists saw no reason 
why constitutional delays should restrain them from extirpating 



662 



History of Methodism. 



slavery, wlien the sentiment of the age was so overwhelming- 
^ against it. An elaborate speech v^-as made by Dr. xlbel 
Stevens. He insisted that the General Paile allowed slave- 
holding: "Let it come out then, sir; for the sake of frankness, 
for the sake of repentance, for the sake of amendment, let it be 
acknowledged that historicalh^, constitutionally, administrative- 
ly, we have been a slave-holding, though an anti-slavery. Church." 
And he warned them against attempting to compass their end 
by a statutory enactment: "Another division of the Church could 
not, we all know, be limited to the border. It would strike its 
desolating fractures, like the rending of an earthquake, through 
all our solid central strength, to the very Xorth itself. Our 
denominational history would close, sir, with another such dis- 
aster. Fragments of the stately structure might remain, but 
fragments which would themselves only crumble more and more 
away." Alfred Griffith and John A. Collins and Henry Slicer 
warned and entreated that the blow might not fall. Two par- 
ties were formed — Northern and Southern anti-slavery; and 
some of the former took the ground that "no Christian can, by 
any possibility, either be a slave or a slave-holder, in any prop- 
er sense of these words." A delegate from Xorth Ohio said: 
"Let something be done, some advanced step be taken, or send 
^is not back to our people." The venerable Dr. George Peck 
assured tliem that many of their best and wealthiest mem- 
bers in the North sympathized with the border in this conflict 
vrith ultraism, and intimated that a split might begin, but would 
not end, there. He opposed more stringent legislation: 

If a hope miglit be entertained that the ceaseless agitation on the subject of 
shivery -woiihi pause somewhere this side of the total ruin of tlie work in the slave- 
holding States, there would he some plausibility in a compromise measure; in- 
deed, almost any change in the law which would not absolutely expel all slave- 
holders — if its enactment would set the question finally at rest — would be prefer- 
able to the irritations TDf an endless controversy. Our progressive brethren are 
prepared to take all they can get, but with the frank avowal tliat they Avill con- 
tinue to press on toward the goal of a final separation of all slave-liolders from 
tlie Church. This is what they purpose to accomplish as soon as they can com- 
mand the'votes; they will only pause upon intermediate points to take breath for 
a brief period, Tlie present measure, radical as it is, is not a finality; it is not 
what our reformers ask for and intend to have; agitation will go on, and the war 
upon our Southern border will continue to be pressed Avith increasing vigor, until 
our brethren there shall either he forced out of tlie Cliurch or compelled to sub- 
mit to legal enactments wliicli are utterly impossible in the slave-holding States. 



Saved from an Inqjending Disaster. 



663 



The persuasive John P. Darbin wrote and spoke, presenting 
the example of the primitive Church and the Bible treatment 
of the subject. He showed very elaborately by numerous quo- 
tations from the New Testament, concerning masters and serv- 
ants, with the expositions of the most learned commentators and 
scholars in support of the view, ^'that the apostles admitted 
slave-holders into the Church." The Indianapolis General Con- 
ference was persuaded to forbear taking the shorter route, and 
to treat the grave subject of a new term of membership more de- 
liberately. In favor of changing the General Eule, there were 
one hundred and twenty-two votes ; against it, ninety-six. As it 
required a majority of two-thirds to adopt it and put it upon 
its passage through the Annual Conferences, Bishop Waugh an- 
nounced the result by saying: "The resolution is not adopted, 
npt having two-thirds of the votes in its favor." 
^ The position of the border Conferences from 1856 to 1860 was 
very much that of a prisoner awaiting execution. The topics of 
the day were making the political cauldron boil. After several 
days' debate in the General Conference at Buffalo (1860), the 
vote on changing the General Bule was one liundi'ed and thirty- 
eight yeas to seventy-four nays, which was less, but barely less, 
than the two-thirds majority. But the grinding new chapter 
— statutory — was adopted by one hundred and fifty-five yeas to 
fifty-eight nays. The Baltimore, East Baltimore, and Philadel- 
phia Conferences demanded its repeal, and began to resist. 

Modern abolitionism — a combined product of political, social, 
sectional, and commercial inliuences, and partaking of a stim- 
ulating type of moral sentiment — vras now become strong. In- 
stead of putting into the field a candidate to be ridiculed, as 
was the case twenty years before, it took good advantage of the 
divided state of the two national parties that had hitherto gov- 
erned the country, and was bringing forward a man to win the 
presidential prize — whose election dated a revolution. Noth- 
ing but the civil war, Vv'hich was precipitated upon the country, 
saved Northern Methodism from an impending disaster. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 



Civil War: Some of its Effects upon the Church, South — lumbers and Strength 
Diminished— Peace Restored — Address of the Bishops — General Conference 
of 1866 — Resuscitation — Legislation — Flourishing Condition of the Church, 
Korth, in the Meantime — Lay Delegation — District Conferences — Constitu- 
tional Test— What Became of tlie Negro Membersliip of the Church, South- 
Foreign Missions — Education — General Conferences from 1870 to 1882. 

THE Tv^ar between the States affected, more or less damag- 
ingly, all religious interests. In each end of the Union the 
largest popular element was represented by Methodism, and nat- 
urally each section of the Church was in sympathy with its own 
people. In the Methodist Episcopal Church, the membership 
from 1860 to 1864 showed a decrease of over sixty-eight thousand. 
This loss occurred chiefly on the border. But the times were 
flush with money there, and their financial interests Avere con- 
stantly improYing. Their contributions for missions increased 
over sixty per cent, in these four years. 

The Church, South, shared in all the calamities of the long 
and unequal conflict. The distresses of war Avere intensified by 
the impoA^erishment and confusion which follow iuA'asion and de- 
feat. The actual loss of members — -not including colored — 
slightly exceeded one hundred and thirteen thousand. Hun- 
dreds of churches AA^ere burned, or dismantled by use as hospitals, 
warehouses, or stables. College endowments were SAA^ept away, 
and the buildings abandoned. Annual Conferences met irregu- 
larly or in fragments; the General Conference (of 1862) was not 
held; and the whole order of the itinerancy was interrupted. The 
Church-press was silent, and many of the most liberal supporters 
of the Church and its institutions were reduced to abject want. 

The situation, as reA-ealed after peace Avas restored, may not 
be described. Two thousand one hundred and ten battles had 
been fought, and hundreds of thousands of lives and thousands 
of millions of property had been destroyed."" A few figures 
may serA'e as an index for Southern Methodism: In 1860 the 
number of wdiite members (including 5,353 local preachers) was 
542,489; in 1866 the number (including 3,829 local preachers) 
was 429,233. In 1860 the collection in all the Conferences to 

^Official Reports of Surgeon-general Barnes (3 vols, folio), giving, tlie list of 
battle-fields. 
f664) 



A Few Results of the War. 



665 



aid superannuated preachers and widov/s and orphans was 
$67,030; in 1866 for the same class of claimants, more needy 
than ever, $35,444. In 1860 there were 2,458 effective traveling 
preachers, and 266 recruits admitted on trial; in 1866 the num- 
ber was 2,116, and 114 admitted on trial/^ It was six or seven 
years before the old figures were touched again, and this marks 
the period of greatest depression. The Publishing House had 
been seized by military officers and used for a United States 
printing-office and other purposes, at a great loss and damage 
to the property. The missionaries in China had been cut off from 
all communication with the home Board. The drafts in their 
hands were honored by the indorsement of the Treasurer of the 
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at New 
York, and served their uses for a time; but this, of course, was 
only a temporary relief, leaving a debt. 

This debt was hard to meet, and one of the first efforts was di- 
rected to it. The lightest sum seemed heavy; but it was a pleas- 
ing instance of brotherly kindness, when such acts were rare. 
The catholic-spirited act of Dr. Thomas Carlton gave an inti- 
mation of what many others felt but had not an opportunity of 
demonstrating. Whatever mitigates the logic of war is a char- 
ity to the human race. When this short supply was exhausted 
the missionaries of the Church, South, were thrown upon their 
own resources. Dr. Allen found employment in the service of 
the Chinese Government, in its translation and editorial depart- 
ment, which gave him access to the higher classes, the educated 
Chinese, and opened to him the opportunity for diffusing Chris- 
tian thought and truth through native channels. Along with 
this work he continued the ministry of the word as he was able. 
He and Dr. Lambuth both supported themselves during those 
trying years, and carried forward their mission-w^ork until sup- 
plies in small amounts began to reach them — at once a relief, 
and an assurance that the Church had no purpose of abandon- 
ing her plans, though not in condition to expand them. 

The Indian mission Avork was brought very low. In 1860 it 
numbered four thousand one hundred and sixty members, with 
numerous schools; but when the muster-roll was called six years 
later only seven hundred and one could be found. Their coun- 
try had been overrun by marauding troops, and Colonels Che- 



* Hand-book of Southern Methodism, by P. A. Peterson, D.D.: 1883. 



666 



Hisforij of Methodism. 



cote, Standwattie, and other cliiefs, under the Confederate ban- 
ner, had led their warriors on tiie losing side. Tribes and fam- 
ilies were dispersed; and starvation must have completed the dis- 
tresses of war but for the ability of Indians to live at the low- 
est subsistence-point. It was gravely doubted whether the In- 
dian Conference could ever be reorganized. 

Homes had been laid waste, and cattle, mills, and implements of 
industry destroyed; streams were without bridges and fields vfith- 
out fences. Large districts Avere on the verge of famine for two 
or three years after armies had been disbanded. But the most 
discouraging feature of all was the methods employed in reorgan- 
izing the civil governments under cormorant exactors and dema- 
gogues, and in the presence of four millions of emancipated 
slaves with the ballot in their hands. Under these circum- 
stances, with these surroundings. Southern Methodism began its 
rehabilitation; perplexed, bat not in despair; cast down, but not 
destroyed. 

In the summer of 1865 the Bishops met in Columbus, Geor- 
gia and, consulting on the situation, issued an address. It was 
like the blast of a trumpet, and gave no uncertain sound. — The 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, yet lived, and in all its pol- 
ity and principles was unchanged. Neither disintegration nor 
absorption was for a moment to be thought of, all rumors to the 
contrary notwithstanding. Whatever banner had fallen or been 
folded up, that of Southern Methodism was still unfurled; vv hat- 
ever cause had been lost, that of Southern Methodism survived. 
And the delegates to the General Conference were summoned to 
meet in New Orleans, April, 1866, according to adjournment 
eight years before. The peeled and scattered hosts, discour- 
aged and confused by adversities and adverse rumors, rallied; 
the Annual Conferences were well attended; and never did del- 
egates meet in General Conference from center and remotest 
posts more enthusiastically; of one hundred and fifty-three elect, 
one hundred and forty-nine were present. 

One of the events of the opening session was a fine-looking 
delegation of Baltimore Methodists, who had taken the first op- 
portunity of adhering to the Church, South, thus offsetting some 
losses in Northern Kentucky and East Tennessee. They with- 
dreAv from the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
in 1861, and maintained an independent existence until their ses- 



Changes in the Disci2)hne. 



667 



sion in Alexandria, March, 1866, when this formal union was 
effected under Bishop Early, and delegates were elected.* 

Men's minds had become used to great changes, and the ses- 
sion at New Orleans w^as therefore favorable for measures 
upon which the usual conservatism might have hesitated long 
in ordinary times. Class-meetings can never be too highly es- 
teemed for the good they do and have done; but one of the acts 
of 1866 v/as to recognize the fact that attendance on them ought 
not to be enforced with greater penalties than attendance upon 
other means of grace. The rigid limit of six months' probation 
was abolished. Admission to Church - membership must be 
guarded with reasonable and conscientious care. Wordly-mind- 
ed material cannot build up a spiritual house; privileges light- 
ly bestowed are lightly esteemed; and responsibilities incurred 
without being emphatically understood are already in the w^ay 
to be neglected, and always to the scandal of pure religion. 
Pastors are therefore required, when persons offer themselves 
for membership, to inquire into their spiritual condition, and to 
obtain satisfactory assurances of their religious experience and 
their purpose of conformity and consecration, before admitting 
them. This may be done at once, or it may be a month or a year 
before the candidate is brought before the congregation to take 
the vows. The longest term of a pastor's continuous service at 
one congregation had been two years; it was novv^ fixed at four. 
At one time a motion was favorably entertained to remove the 
limit altogether, leaving the appointment annual, but to be re- 
peated at the discretion of the appointing power. This, however, 
was reconsidered, none objecting more to the extension of discre- 
tion than the Bishops. If they, for the good of the whole work, 
must move the preachers, the law must keep them movable. 

District Conferences were discussed and recommended, though 
not regulated by law until four years later. They came exten- 
sively into use throughout the Connection, and by the time the 
next General Conference took the matter in hand for definitely 

* This body formed a portion of the original Baltimore Conference which had 
been divided into Baltimore and East Baltimore. The war changed a large amount 
of tlie opposition developed by the (Buffalo) General Conference of 1860; incipient 
separation was estopped ; and the first resolutions taken in that way were rescind- 
ed at subsequent sessions. War fiised nearly all Northern sentiment into abolition- 
ism. The portion of the Baltimore Conference, represented at New Orleans, num- 
bered 108 traveling and 57 local preachers, and 12,000 members. 



668 



History of Methodism. 



shaping it, this institute had shown admirable fitness for serving 
the Church to edification. This was not that District Confer- 
ence which obtained from 1820 to 1836 — confined to local preach- 
ers, and never po]3nlar or useful. It w^as rather a return to the 
earlier practice, when a Yearly Conference w^as held by Bishop 
Asbury in every District. Simple in organization, and bringing 
together various elements of power wdthin a range wide enough 
for variety and narrow enough for cooperation; promoting Chris- 
tian fellowship; taking cognizance of a class of subjects which 
neither Annual nor Quarterly Conferences can so well handle; 
and bringing to bear upon given points, for days, the best preach- 
ing, where Christian hospitality and love-feasts and sacraments 
may be enjoyed — the District Conference fell at once into place. 

The great measure of 1866 was lay delegation. Its prostrate, 
almost collapsed, condition required all available help the Church 
could command. A sentiment in favor of lay cooperation had 
been growing quietly for years. Once, only two questions were 
asked in xlnnual Conference: How^nany are in Society? "Where 
are the preachers stationed this year? There was no business 
for laymen then. The schedule grew to embrace a wider range of 
topics and a larger care. By and by education, Sunday-schools 
and Sunday observance, religious publications and their dis- 
semination, orphanage and widowhood, temperance, and Church 
extension, began to occupy much time in Annual and General 
Conferences, and the need of laymen w^as felt. 

The original motion was in the form of two resolutions, simple 
and general, not embarrassed by particulars. The first was: 
" Besolved, That it is the sense of this General Conference that 
lay representation be introduced into the Annual and the General 
Conferences." This was adopted by ninety-six yeas, forty-nine 
nays. The principle once admitted, even by a numerical major- 
ity, every thing was gained. Men who were doubtful, or so indif- 
ferent to the new measure as to vote on the old side, saw that the 
Church could not w^ell stand in that attitude on such a subject — 
excluding laymen on a minority expression of the ministry; and 
enough of them consented to waive their preferences on the final 
record to make a two-thirds majority. 

A special committee, called for by the second resolution, took 
the matter in hand, with instructions to arrange the details of 
a ]3lan; which w^as adopted, ninety-seven yeas, forty-one nays. 



Lay Bepresentation Adopted. 



669 



The measure having passed on to the Annual Conferences, ob- 
tained the requisite three-fourths vote, and laymen took their 
seats in the General Conference of 1870. 

Considering the Annual Conference as mainly an executive 
body, the presence of only four lay delegates from each district 
is provided for there; but in the General Conference, the law- 
making body, the number of lay delegates is equal to the cler- 
ical. So ripe was public opinion, and so propitious the times, 
and so well digested the scheme, that this great change was in- 
troduced without heat or partisanship. Unstintedly, volunta- 
rily, on their own motion, the ministry, who had held this power 
from the beginning, divided it equally with lay brethren. Their 
appearance in the chief council of the Church, and their in- 
fluence, justified their introduction, even to those who had 
feared; a new power was developed, a new interest awakened, 
a new progress begun. At least two tentative schemes preceded 
this consummation. In the Virginia Conference the Joint Board 
of Finance had been in use before it v/as taken into considera- 
tion and recommended by the General Conference of 1850.* In 
1854 the Lou.isiana Conference began to practice lay cooperation 
on a larger scale, and its financial and spiritual conditions were 
soon the better for it. A number of laymen from each dis- 
trict were invited to meet with the Conference. The subjects 
usLially referred to committees — as books and periodicals, mis- 
sions, church and parsonage building, education, ministerial sup- 
port, Sunday-schools — were considered on afternoons in com- 
mittee of the whole, where these laymen spoke and voted; and 
the reported conclusion was formally adopted by the legal Con- 
ference. This plan came into use in the Mississippi Conference, 
and perhaps others, with advantage. 

Bishops Soule, Andrew, and Early, aged and feeble, were, at 
their request, retired upon the superannuated list; and four bish- 
ops were elected and ordained — William M. Wightman, Enoch 
M. Marvin, David S. Doggett, and Holland N. McTyeire. 

The Publishing House and Missionary Society wrecks were 
patched up, and sent forth desperately, to sink or swim. There 
was no capital, and but little credit; no supply, but much de- 
mand. The weekly Christian Advocates, one by one, got into po- 
sition; the colleges and schools reopened under miscellaneous 



*It is credited to the fertile mind of Dr. William A. Smith. 



670 



Histonj of Methodism. 



classificatiou; the deb}-is of cities and farms was cleared away, 
and new structni'es gradually rose; the earth vvas fruitful and re- 
sponded to labor; the energies of a people, whose spirit vras not 
broken but rather invigorated by adversity, grappled with the 
strange situation; the rapacious adventurers who had settled 
down like a nightmare upon State and county and municipal 
governments were thrown off; the new instauration disclosed its 
advantages and compensations; things mended and times grew 
better. The itinerant went forth again on his gracious errands; 
old circuit lines were restored and enlarged; new and larger 
churches were built, and better parsonages; and by the blessing 
of the Lord the Church sur^-ived and grew. The white member- 
ship was less in number than twelve years before, but it was 
doubled in fifteen years, vrith a corresponding improvement in 
Church property and accommodations and ministerial support.* 
In 1866 were reported 78,7^:2 of the colored membership that 
had numbered 207,766. The two African Churches, hitherto op- 
erating mainly in the Xorth, appropriated a large share of them; 
another portion went to Xorthern Methodism, which had also 
come down to divide the spoils. To the latter went many of the 
preachers and exhorters, who made the most efficient agents for 
extending their new organization in the Southern field; and some' 
of them have more than once figured creditably in their General 
Conferences. The remnant that clave to the Church which min- 

■^In 1850 (according to United States census tables) the value represented by 
cliurcli-buildings and parsonages in the Church, South, was 83,771,502. In 1SS3 it 
was 813.323,502 — an increase of 253 per cent. In 1857 the Church, North, had 
817,9(jS.iSl in church-buildings and parsonages. In 1SS3 the amount was 879,- 
233,085, an increase in twenty-six years of 342 jier cent. In comparing tlie in- 
crease of Church property Xortli and South, the comparative wealth of the two 
sections will be seen by the following figures: In 1850 the taxable property (slaves 
not included) of the thirteen Southern States occupied by the Church, Soutli, was 
82,480,000,000. In 18S0 the taxable property in these States was 82,370,000,000. 
Showing a clear loss of real and personal estate in thirty years of 8110,000,000. 
In 1850 the Xortliern States owned (including Maryland and Delaware, wliere 
Southern jletimdisni had no members') 83,473,000,000. In 18S0 these States 
owned -14,4 i3.f 'OaOOO. Gain in the tliirty years, 810,930,000,000. Showing a 
gain (^f 314 per cent, in thirty years. Thus it appears that the gain of 342 per 
cent, in Church property by the ^Methodist Episcopal Churcli (Xorth) was based 
upon a general property increase of 314 23er cent, in thirty years. On the other 
hand, the gain of 253 per cent, in the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch, South, was 
made in the face of an actual decrease of general property amounting to 8110,- 
000,000. (Dr. ^\. P. Harrison's Centenary Year Tables.) 



Fruits of Past Labors. 



671 



isterecl to them in slayery were set off into circuits, districts, 
and Annual Conferences; and at their request were constituted 
an independent body under the name chosen by themselves — 
"The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in America." The 
Discipline of the parent body was adopted, without material al- 
terations, and two bishops, of their own election, w^ere ordained/- 
The Genera] Conference, wdiich authorized this proceeding, also 
ordered that all Church property that had been acquired, held, 
and used for Methodist negroes in the past be turned over to 
them by Quarterly Conferences and trustees. 

Now W'as seen the fruit of a hundred years of Christian labor 
and influence bestowed upon the servile population. There were 
no St. Domingo scenes. Incitements and ox3portunities w^ere not 
wanting, and in many counties and in whole States negroes were 
in the numerical majority; but there was no riot or massacre, 
no wholesale pillage or insurrection. When left to themselves 
the ex-slaves settled down into kind relations wdth their late mas- 
ters and their families, and often continued in their employment 
under the new relation. A religious sentiment pervaded and dom- 
inated the emancipated race, and the chief annoyance white com- 
munities pretended to suffer was from endless preachings and 
protracted meetings. That such a suddenly enforced and uni- 
versal emancipation did not end in bloody calamity to both races 
is due mainly to Christian work persistently pursued by Meth- 
odists, and also by Baptists, and not wholly neglected by other 
Churches in the South. The average statesman, and politiciaD, 
and historian, is slow^ to see this great fact, and to acknowledge 
its salutary force in the problem of civil life. 

One compensation of a divided family appeared— wdien the 
Church, South, was very poor, the Northern section vras en- 
riched and increased in goods. In 1861 their Church Extension 
Society was established in Philadelphia, through which nearly 
two millions of dollars have been gathered and disbursed; the 
limit of the pastoral term was changed from two to three years ; 
three bishops were elected :f all the Southland was mapped out 
for occupation ; and the motion to change the General Rule so as 

* This was done in Jackson, Tennessee, December, 1870. \s. H. Miles and E,. 
H. Yanderliorst were ordained by Bishops Paine and McTyeire, who presided at the 
Conventional General Conference. 

t Davis W. Clark, Edvv'ard Thompson, and Calvin Kingsley. 



672 



Hisforu of Methodism. 



to make slaYe-lioldiug a bar to membership obtained a two-thirds 
majority — ^207 ayes, 9 nays — and this constitutional amendment 
was put on its passage through the Annual Conferences, which 
in due time returned a very decided three-fourths rote/" 

Under the leadership of that great chief of the Bureau — 
Dr. Durbin — foreign fields had been occupied and Conferences 
organized in China, and India, and the North of Europe, and 
their Bishops were engaged in tours of missionary visitations 
round the world, at a time Y\^hen the Southern Bishops were shut 
up by embargo. They were celebrating the Embury Chapel f 
Centenary (1866) with gifts and offerings that did honor to uni- 
versal Methodism, while their less fortunate brethren were gath- 
ering up the fragments and making a new start. Over eight 
millions of dollars were contributed among them for various 
purposes. Drew Seminar}^, tlie gift of a generous layman, dates 
from that year. The wealthy sons and friends of Wesleyan 
University raised its endowment to a sum that would have 
seemed fabulous in the early Asburyan age; and all these per- 
sonal gifts were soon exceeded by the plain, economical, pious, 
Isaac Eich, of Boston, who left more than a million of dollars 
for the Methodist university founded by him. 

The officials of Northern Methodism, by right of influence ex- 
erted and services rendered, enjoyed favor with the Federal Gov- 
ernment, and this was of great advantage to them in pushing their 

■^The President's Emancipation Proclamation (Jan. 1, 1863) anticipated the 
action of the Churcli bv about two years. 

t AVe have seen Xorthern Methodism a sLave-hokling Church to the end of the 
institution. A curious scrap of liistory sho-\s-s a very early connection with it. J. 
B. AVakely, D.D,, of the ]S'e\v York Conference, in ''Lost Ciiapters recovered from 
the Early History of American Methodism," opens the original book of official rec- 
ords of Philip Embury's Cliapel. Peter Williams began in 1778 to be sexton for 
John Street Church, and was a convert of Captain ebb's in the Eigging Loft. 
Peter was a black slave, the property of one Aymar, an Englisliman. Aymar be- 
ing a loyalist left the country, and the trustees of the " Cradle of American Meth- 
odism" bought Peter. This is the record on the ''old book:" 

"June 10, 1783— Paid Mr. Aymar for his negro Peter, £40." 

Peter became free afterward by self-redemption. The first credit on the "old 
book" in his favor is for his watch, valued at £5. Then there are various cred- 
its of less amounts, until the last is made — "Xov. -4, 1785 — By cash received of 
Peter AVilliams, in full of all demands, £5. 7. 0." Tlie bill of sale is very busi- 
ness-like; but it does not appear that Peter got liis free-papers until Oct. 20, 1796. 
(See Lost Chapters, pages 450 to 467.) 



Peculiar Troubles — Intruders. 



673 



lines soutlivrard and westward. Bishop Kavanangli was able, dur- 
ing the war, to visit the Southern Methodist Churches on the Pa- 
cific Coast, greatly to their edification. He was arrested while 
attending a camp-meeting near Stockton, and carried before 
the commander of the post at San Francisco, as a dangerous 
person; but on searching his papers nothing worse was found 
than lists of appointments for quarterly-meetings and such 
like. Southern Methodism in the cities of California, never 
strong, was well-nigh crushed out during the war. Its princi- 
pal strength, fortunately, was in the country; the other branch, 
by the larger immigration from the North and East to the cities, 
being stronger at those points. Southern Methodists endured 
more than ordinary misfortunes. To ordinary, and even extraor- 
dinary losses they could submit; one thing, however, they did 
not look for, and it made a deep wound. After the Federal 
forces had opened the passage of the Mississippi Eiver, and 
occupied large sections of Southern territory, Bishop Ames 
and some of the preachers of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
followed the victorious army with an order obtained from Sec- 
retary of War Stanton, and took forcible possession of such 
Southern Methodist pulpits as suited him, even to the exclusion 
of ministers appointed by the Church authorities and desired by 
the congregation." These violent pastors held on after the war 
ceased, and had to be ousted, ungracefully and reluctantly. The 
intruder placed in Carondelet Street Church, by Bishop Ames's 
order, was got out barely in time for the meeting of the General 
Conference at New Orleans.f 

The Church, North, adopted lay delegation, admitting two lay- 
men from the larger Conferences into the General Conference, 
but none into the Annual; also a plan of District Conferences. 
At the Brooklyn session (1872) lay delegates took fcheir seats, and 
the unprecedented number of eight bishops was elected. J 

Decided improvement in jurisprudence was made at the New 
Orleans session. For the last time was witnessed the tedious and 

■^After procuring a copy of this extraordinary document ("Special Orders, Xo. 
15 " authorized ISTov. 30, 1863), we decline to put it on record. It is suggestive 
of what the Duke of Alva might have given a gentle St. Dominic for pious use in 
the Z!s etherlands. f McKendree Church, Xashville, and others, suffered likewise. 

; Thomas Bowman, AV. L. Harris, E. S. Foster,. I. W. Wilev, S. M. Merrill, E. 
G. Andrews, Gilbert Haven, and J. T. Peck. 
43 



674 



History of Methodism. 



'Unsatisfactory trial of an appeal in open Conference. Such busi- 
ness is now relegated to judicious committees, both in Annual and 
General Conferences, much to the advantage of justice and de- 
cency. It was reserved for the next session ( Memphis, 1870 ) — in 
which laymen first sat — to complete a measure which had been at- 
tempted and failed twice or thrice, half a century before, and 
without which legislation is never secure. The General Confer- 
■ence is restrained by certain constitutional limitations, called Ee- 
strictive Eules. When and how may it be determined that any 
one of those limitations has been violated? If the legislature is 
the judge of these limitations to its own power, then virtually 
there are no limitations. With great unanimity this point was 
now settled which had been overlooked in 1808.'^' At this Con- 
ference John C. Keener was elected and ordained bishop, the 
first to enjoy the distinction of being chosen by representatives of 
'the two classes he serves — preachers and people, f 

In 1871 Bishop Marvin, presiding at the West Texas Confer- 
•ence, ordained, and appointed to the Eio Grande, Alejo Hernan- 
dez, a native of Mexico, an ex-soldier against Maximilian, and a 
.convert, not from Eomanism, but from the infidelity to which a 
reaction from Eomanism often leads. He proved a chosen vessel, 
and began the evangelizing work which has been developed into 
the Mexican Border Mission, extending from Corpus Christi to El 
Paso, along the Eio Grande Valley, and including, irregularly, 
the territory on both sides for about a hundred miles. In that 
peculiar population lying along the United States and the 
Mexican frontier, and subject to strange vicissitudes of revolu- 
tion, a native ministry has been raised up, churches have been 
gathered, circuits and districts formed. An American was found 
well adapted and willingly devoted to this hard border labor — a 
son of one of that small band who, in 1840, received appoint- 
ments in the Eepublic of Texas. ^: By God's blessing upon his 
faithful workmen, that wilderness may one day blossom as the 
rose. If this border movement be carried forward into Mexico, 
and make progress into the interior, it will becomxe possible to 
unite the Central Mexican with the Mexican Border, and organ- 
ize one Conference to cover all the Mexican work. 

^See foot-note on page 569, and on page 513. f Third ballot, 184 votes — J. 0. 
Keener, 96; J. A. Duncan, 84. 

X A. H. Sutherland, first superintendent. Hernandez, after being transferred to 
the Central Mexican Mission, and making full proof of his ministry, died in 1875. 



Missions in Mexico and Brazil. 



675 



The changes in the civil conditions of Mexico — its freedom 
from the domination of Romanism, and its concession of liber- 
ty of conscience and worship to all its citizens— stirred Bishop 
Keener to inaugurate a mission there. Procuring contributions 
and promises of support sufficient to justify the movement, he 
visited the City of Mexico early in the year 1873 and, purchasing 
property for the church, appointed Hernandez to make a begin- 
ning. A year afterward he repeated his visit, taking more la- 
borers, and found Protestantism making headway. Native help- 
ers came forward, and by March, 1877, there were seventy mem- 
bers, a full congregation, and the Sabbath and day schools were 
kept up with a good attendance. Next year a superintendent en- 
' .r-red upon this work who organized at once a system of evangel- 
istio operations, reaching to all accessible points in the States ad- 
jacent to the City of Mexico."^ The press was brought into requi- 
sition, and the Erangelista Mexicano issued. There were reported 
at the close of his first year two hundred and sixty-eight mem- 
bers, twelve native preachers, and eight teachers. Generous dona- 
tions have been made by individuals and societies, and considerable 
Church property has been accumulated in the Republic. Re en- 
forcements of men and means continue to go in that direction, 
and the not distant future may see a continuous territory occupied 
by the Church, South, from the western border of Texas. The 
Northern branch of Methodism has entered the same field with 
accustomed zeal and energy. 

The reconnoissance of Brazil in 1835 was first followed up for 
permanent occupation in 1876. f Many and great changes had 
taken place in forty years. The intolerant despotism of the 
Romish Church, in Brazil, as in Mexico, had brought on a con- 
flict with the government. The Emperor was an enlightened and 
cultivated man, and the higher classes and legislative bodies had 
shaken themselves loose from the grasp of the priesthood, and 
thrown the empire open to educational and religious enterprise. 
Rio de Janeiro, the capital and commercial emporium of the em- 
pire, was made the basis of operations. The popular drift was 

*W. M. Patterson, D.D., from the Memphis Conference. 

t John J. Eansom, of the Tennessee Conference. He arrived February 2d. 
J. E. Kewman, an elder of the Alabama Conference, settled in the Province of 
San Paulo soon after the war; opened liis mission to English-speaking people; or- 
ganized a Church at Santa Barbara ; and was recognized by the Board as a mission- 
ary in May, 1875. 



676 



History of Methodism. 



toward infidelity, and the general tone was that of indifference to 
religion. A small native society was gathered, and a larger num- 
ber of English-speaking residents. A church has been built and 
a school enterprised. Piracicaba has also been selected as a cen- 
ter of operations for preaching and for religious education. 

The improved condition of the Church and country in 1870, 
and the wants of both, called for the office of General Sunday- 
school Secretary, to whom was committed the superintendence of 
the entire department of Sunday-school literature.'- This de- 
partment of publications soon became the most popular, and lu- 
crative to the Publishing House. In 1882 a Church Extension 
Society was organized, whose aid was timely for the openings 
in the great South-west.f 

One of the first things attempted in the new era, and the last 
achieved by the Church, South, was the restoration of its literary 
institutions. Some Avere never reopened.:}: Here money was in- 
exorably required — zeal, industry, patriotism, and patience, 
could not attain unto it. The higher education costs more than 
the average student can pay; it must rest on endowment. Six 
or seven Conferences, covering a wide reach of territory and 
population, undertook, in 1872, to found a university such as 
would meet the wants of the Church and the country. A 
convention, composed of delegates from Tennessee, Alabama, 
Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, adopted a plan for such 
.an institution, and it was determined to take no steps toward 
selecting a site, or opening any department of the institution, 
until the sum of 8500,000 should be obtained in valid subscrip- 
tions. Of institutions of lower grade than that contemplated 
it was believed there was already a supply. The effort to 
raise funds demonstrated the impossibility of the enterprise. 
In the judgment of its best friends the scheme was consid- 
ered a failure, when Cornelius Tanderbilt, a citizen of New 
York, made a donation of 8500,000, which he afterward in- 

" A. G. Havgood, D.D., was elected to this position, which he filled until De- 
cember, 1875, when he resigned, and was succeeded bv AV, G, E. Cunnyngham, D.D. 

jD. Morton, D.D., Secretary, has made an excellent showing for the first year's 
operations of this new arm of the service, domiciled at Louisville. 

X Trinity College, North Carolina, and tlie South-western University, George- 
town, Texas, with a strong combination of patronizing Conferences, belong to the 
new era. The first succeeded Xormal, the second superseded Soule College. 



Munificent Gifts for Education. 



617 



creased to $1,000,000; and subsequently his son, William H. 
Yanderbilt, made a donation of $250,000, to provide a farther 
outfit, and to increase the permanent endowment to $700,000. In 
West Nashville the senior Superintendent, Bishop Paine, on his 
way to the General Conference of 1874, attended by numerous 
delegates, laid the corner-stone; and with full faculties, a univer- 
sity of six departments, including theology, was formally opened 
in October, 1875. The Founder concluded his final communi- 
cation to the President of the Board of Trust, expressing ap- 
proval of the organization of the university, with these words: 
"And if it shall, through its influence contribute, even in the 
smallest degree, to strengthen the ties which should exist be- 
tween all geographical sections of our common country, I shall 
feel that it has accomplished one of the objects that led me to 
take an interest in it."* Several years later George I. Seney, of 
New York, by a donation of $260,000 to Emory College and 
Wesleyan Female College,f Georgia, greatly enlarged, beautified, 
and strengthened those institutions. Education prospered great- 
ly in the other branch of Episcopal Methodism, and they often 
had occasion, both on account of the inroads of death and be- 
cause their work was enlarging, to bring forward new men and 
strong, to posts of responsibility.:}: 

The General Conference, with gratitude for the signs of pros- 
perity on every side, met in Nashville, 1882. The Head of the 
Church had blessed their labors, more than restored all their 
losses, and given them peace. Alpheus Wilson, Linus Parker, 
Atticus G. Haygood,§ John C. Granbery, and Kobert K. Har- 
grove, were elected bishops. The ordination sermon was preached 
by Bishop Kavanaugh, who, in less thaji two years, received the 

* ''Commodore" Vanderbilt was not a member of the Church, but liis mother was 
a Moravian, of Staten Ishmd, whose memory he revered; and his wife (by second 
marriage) a Methodist, of Mobile. Consulting with one of the Southern Bishops, 
through whom he made his donation, he said — referring to the Lennox Library, 
then going up: "It is the style, wlien a man builds a college or library, to put it 
down here, where there are plenty. I will put this where it is needed." 

t This institution is believed to be tlie oldest in the United States, perhaps in 
the world, established upon the plan of a regular college, with authority to confer 
degrees upon women. Mr. Seney, its benefactor, is a Methodist, and the son of 
an itinerant of the old panel. 

t In 1880 H. W. Warren, C. D. Foes, J. F. Hurst, and E. O. Haven, Avere elect- 
ed bishops. In 1884, Drs. Ninde, Walden, Fowler, and Mallalieu. | Declined. 



678 



History of Methodism. 



summons to enter the joy of liis Lord, while in the pulpit, in 
his eighty-second year. Bishop Paine conducted his last public 
service in laying hands upon his younger brethren, and com- 
mitting to them a charge which he, for thirty-six years, had ful- 
filled with spotless fidelity and the most eminent ability. 

Since 1878 a new power has entered the field; it was then rec- 
ognized — the Woman's Missionary Society. Moved by the re- 
ports of the success of women as Bible-readers in heathen lands, 
and as helpers in domestic missions, the godly women of South- 
ern Methodism, upon the first opportunity, undertook this er- 
rand of mercy in various cities, beginning at Baltimore; and at 
Atlanta they were ready for combination and cooperation. Effi- 
ciently have they planned and acted, so that both impulse and 
breadth have been given to operations in China, in Brazil, and on 
the Mexican Border. Working in agreement with the Board of 
Missions, they yet keep up a separate management, which is stim- 
ulating the spirit and enlarging the field of missions. 

Bishop Marvin (1876-7) visited China, strengthened the hands 
of the missionaries, and bore a testimony concerning the field 
that caused a quickened interest throughout the Church, and a 
steady increase of its forces. He ordained native preachers, and 
returned after a year's absence; but he was not permitted to 
make his report to the ensuing General Conference. Before his 
lamented death, however, he had published an account of his 
tour, which still speaks to the churches. 

The busy laborers disappear from the scene. " God buries his 
workmen, but carries on his work." Capers, the Chrysostom of 
Methodism, has long since fallen on sleep; and Soule and An- 
drew and Early — whose, sixty years of labor in his native Vir- 
ginia associated him closely with all its material and spiritual 
development. The Church has mourned more recently for the 
eloquent and useful Wightman and Doggett. Lovick Pierce, in 
his ninety-fifth year, died; but so pervasive was the influence of 
that pure and powerful life, he seems yet to live. 



% 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

The Era of Fraternity: Correspondence Anent it — Deputations — Delegates — 
Joint Commission at Cape May — Status and Basis Definitely Declared — Prop- 
erty Claims Adjusted — Ecumenical Conference — City Eoad Cliapel — London 

- Methodists — Centenary Celebration at Baltimore — From 1784 to 1884. 

THE last letter John "Wesley wrote to America was to Ezekiel 
Cooper, and contained these words: "Lose no opportunity 
of declaring to all men that the Methodists are one people in all 
the world, and that it is their fnll determination so to continue." 

The grand deposifum of Wesleyan doctrine is common to them 
all, under whatever name or in whatever region they proclaim it; 
the same enemies oppose, and the same standards are appealed to ; 
the same historical names and facts are cherished by them all. 
Whatever differences may exist between the various branches of 
this ecclesiastical family, they are nearer to each other than they 
can be to other people. "I am a Methodist " awakes strong sym- 
pathies and affinities, and is associated with a fellowship, doc- 
trines, experience, usages, means of grace, peculiar to this form 
of Christianity, and dear to every one who has enjoyed them. 
Notwithstanding occasional personal offenses against the unity 
of the Spirit, and improper associate acts and utterances, many 
waters cannot quench the love of the Spirit. 

Efforts at formal fraternal relations Avere broken off at the 
reactionary General Conference of 1848. There the messenger 
of peace from the South, being rejected, left the proposition: 

You ^sl\\ therefore regard this communication as final on the part of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South. She can never renew the offer of fraternal rela- 
tions between the two great bodies of Wesleyan Methodists in the United States. 
But the proposition can be renewed at any time, either now or hereafter, by the 
Methodist Episcopal Church; and if ever made upon the basis of the Plan of 
Separation, as adopted by the General Conference of 1844, the Church, South, will 
cordially entertain the propo dtion. 

And there it rested for over twenty years. In May, 1869, the 
Southern Bishops, at their annual meeting in St. Louis, were 
waited upon by a deputation, consisting of Bishops Janes and 
Simpson, conveying a communication. These distinguished 
brethren brought, officially, a letter of recent date from their 

(G79) 



680 



History of Methodism. 



colleagues, saying: "It seems to us that as the division of those 
Churches of our country which are of like faith and order has 
been productive of evil, so the reunion of them would be pro- 
ductive of good. As the main cause of the separation has been 
removed, so has the chief obstacle to the restoration. . . . 
We are aware that there are difficulties in the way, growing out 
of the controversies of the past and the tempers of the present. 
We have, therefore, deputed our colleagues to confer with you, 
alike as to the propriety, practicability, and methods of reunion." 
They also reported their declaration made and published in Erie, 
Pa., June, 1865: "That the great cause which led to the sep- 
aration from us of both the Wesleyan Methodists of this coun- 
try and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has passed 
away, and we trust the day is not far distant when there shall be 
but one organization, which shall embrace the whole Methodist 
family in the United States." This declaration, they added, was 
referred to in the Quadrennial Address to their late General 
Conference, "and no exception was taken to it by that body." 

The interview was a iDleasant one, but brief, and the deputa- 
tion as suddenly left the city as it came. The College of Bish- 
ops had now an offer of reunion on their hands, and no ques- 
tions or explanations with the other party possible. To indi- 
cate a prompt refusal, or that the proposition was under consider- 
ation, would be alike hurtful — the public mind was so ready for 
misconception on that subject. They replied at sufficient length 
to be understood. A generation had grown up ignorant of the 
question at issue; and here was an opportunity to get a good hear- 
ing of the matter, both in the Northern and Southern papers. 
They therefore courteously reminded the brethren that fraternal 
feelings and relations must, in the nature of the case, be estab- 
lished before any question of reunion can be entertained. " Heart 
divisions must be cured before corporate division can be healed; " 
and referring to the well-known failure of their delegate: 

You could not expect us to say less than this — that the words of our rejected 
delegate have been ever since, and still are, our words. It niav help to the more 
speedy and certain attainment of the ends we both desire, to keep distinctly in 
mind our mutual positions, and to hold the facts involved in our common history 
in a clear light. You say " that the great cause which led to the separation from 
ns of both the Wesleyan Methodists of this country and of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, South, has passed away." If we understand your reference, we so far 
difier from you in this opinion tliat it may help any negotiations hereafter taking 



Correspondence on FraterniUj. 



681 



place to restate our position. Slavery was not, in any proper sense, the cause, but 
the occasion only, of tliat separation, the necessity of which we regretted as much as 
you. But certain principles were developed in relation to the political aspects of 
that question, involving the right of ecclesiastical bodies to handle and determine 
matters lying outside of their proper jurisdiction, which we could not accept; and 
in a case arising, certain constructions of the constitutional powers and preroga- 
tives of the General Conference were assumed and acted on, which we considered 
oppressive and destructive of the rights of the numerical minority represented in 
that highest judicatory of the Church. That which you are pleased to call — no 
doubt sincerely thinking it so — "the great cause" of separation existed in the 
Cliurch from its organization, and yet for sixty years there was no separation. 
But when those theories, incidentally evolved in connection with it, began to be 
put into practice, then the separation came. 

We cannot think you mean to offend us when you speak of our having sepa- 
rated from you, and put us in the same category with a small body of schismatics 
who were always an acknowledged secession. Allow us, in all kindness, breth- 
ren, to remind you, and to keep the important fact of history prominent, that we 
separated from you in no sense in which you did not separate from us. The sep- 
aration was by compact and mutual ; and nearer approaches to each other can be 
conducted, with hope of a successful issue, only on this basis. 

They respectfully disclaimed authority or disposition to say any 
thing on the "propriety, practicability, and methods of reunion." 

This correspondence was spread before both Churches, and 
did good. It was something for brethren estranged to meet, 
and to speak candidly. Several local and individual fraternity 
movements were tried without success. The Baltimore Con- 
ference (South) being in session, March, 1870, the Baltimore 
Conference (North) appointed two fraternal delegates to it; men 
personally most estimable and beloved. But the Conference 
declined to receive them in their official character, and rejected 
the overture, on the principle that the General and not the An- 
nual Conferences of the two Connections have the right and pow- 
er properly to institute fraternal relations. 

Bishop Janes and Bev. Dr. W. L. Harris appeared before the 
General Conference at Memphis, in 1870, with credentials from a 
commission created by the Northern General Conference of 1868, 
" to treat with a similar commission from any other Methodist 
Church on the subject of union." They were heard, and their 
communication referred to a select committee, which reported 
" that the distinguished commission now present " were ap- 
pointed and empowered, according to the journal of their Gen- 
eral Conference, "to treat with similar commissions" from those 
Methodist Churches that "desired union" with the Church, 



682 



History of Methodism. 



North; and therefore the commission could not, "without great 
violence in construing language," be regarded as accredited to 
the Church, South; and "that if they were fully clothed with 
authority to treat with us for union, it is the judgment of this 
Conference that the true interests of the 'Church of Christ re- 
quire and demand the maintenance of our separate and distinct 
organization;" and "that we tender to the members of the com- 
mission our high regards as brethren beloved in the Lord, and 
express our desire that the day may soon come when x^roper 
Christian sentiments and fraternal relations between the tvv^o 
great branches of Northern and Southern Methodism shall be 
permanently established.' ' 

The report of this committee was adopted unanimously, in- 
cluding this declaration: "That the action of our Bishops, in re- 
sponse to the message from the Bishops of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, has the full indorsement of this General Confer- 
ence, and accurately defines our position in reference to any 
overtures which may ]3roceed from that Church, having in them 
an official and proper recognition of this body." 

At the General Conference of 1874, convened in Louisville, ' . 
three fraternal delegates appeared, duly commissioned from the 
General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church.* After 
mutual introductions to those on the platform, their credentials 
were read. The President then introduced them to the Confer- 
ence, and they delivered addresses, of which the journal says 
they "were characterized by excellent taste, and w^arm, fraternal 
sentiments, which w^ere Avell received by the Conference and the 
immense audience in attendance." The delegates were treated 
most hospitably while they remained, and on their taking leave 
appropriate resolutions were adopted. Considering the whole 
matter of fraternity as brought before them in the credentials 
and the addresses of the delegates, f the General Conference said: 

^ Albert S. Hunt, D.D., CJiarles H. Fowler, D.D., and General Clinton B. Fisk. 

fTlie action of the General Conference in Brookh'n (1S72) was partially incor- 
porated in the certificate of the delegates, in the following terms: "To place our- 
selves in the truly fraternal relations toward our Southern bretliren which senti- 
ments of our people demand, and to prepare the way for the opening of formal fra- 
ternity with them, it is liereby resolved that this General Conference will appoint 
a delegation, consisting of two ministers and one layman, to convey our fraternal 
greetings to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch, South, 
at its next ensuing session." 



Delegates and Commissioners Appointed. 



683 



Measures preparatory to formal fraternity would be defective that leave out of 
view questions in dispute between the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch and ourselves. 
These questions relate to the course pursued by some of their accredited agents 
whilst prosecuting their work in the South, and to property which has been taken 
and held by them to this day against our protest and remonstrance. Although 
feeling ourselves sorely aggrieved in these things, we stand ready to meet our 
brethren of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the spirit of Christian candor, and 
to compose all differences upon the principles of justice and equity. 

It is to be regretted that the honored representatives who bore fraternal greet- 
ings to us were not empowered also to enter upon a settlement of these vexed 
questions. We are prepared to take advanced steps in this direction, and, waiv- 
ing any considerations which might justify a greater reserve, we will not only ap- 
point a delegation to return the greetings so gracefully conveyed to us from the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, but we will also provide for a commission to meet a 
similar commission from that Church for the purpose of settling disturbing ques- 
tions. Open and righteous treatment of all cases of complaint will furnish the 
only solid ground upon v/hich we can meet. Relations of amity are, with special 
emphasis, demanded between bodies so near akin. We be bretliren. To the re- 
alization of this the families of Methodism are called by the movements of the 
times. The attractive power of the cross is working mightily. The Christian el- 
ements in the world are all astir in their search for each other. Christian hearts 
are crying to each other across vast spaces, and longing for fellowship. The heart 
of Southern Methodism being in full accord with these sentiments: 

Resolved, That this General Conference has received with pleasure the fraternal 
greetings of the Methodist Episcopal Cliurch, conveyed to us by their delegates ; 
and that our College of Bishops be, and are hereby, authorized to appoint a dele- 
gation, consisting of two ministers and one layman, to bear our Christian saluta- 
tions to their next ensuing General Conference. 

Resolved, That, in order to remove all obstacles to formal fraternity between the 
two Churches, our College of Bishops is authorized to appoint a commission, con- 
sisting of three ministers and two laymen, to meet a similar commission author- 
ized by the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and to adjust 
all existing difficulties. 

Accordingly delegates were appointed, who had a hearty re- 
ception at the General Conference of the other branch of Epis- 
copal Methodism, in 1876: commissioners were also appointed."^' 
These last were promptly met by commissioners from the other 
branch, clothed with equal powers.f The Joint Commission 
met at Cape May, August 17-23, 1876, and after |)rayerful and * 
patient deliberation unanimously agreed upon terms, which were 
accepted as a finality by the ensuing General Conferences of both 

* Fraternal delegates: Lovick Pierce, D.D., James A. Duncan, D.D., and Lan- 
don C. Garland, LL.D. Commissioners: E. H. Myers, D.D., R. K. Hargrove, D.D., 
T. M. Finney, DD., Hon. R. B. Vance, Hon. David Clopton, 

fM. D'C. Crawford, D.D., J. P. Ne\vman, D.D., E. Q. Fuller, D.D., General C. 
B, Fisk, Hon. E. L. Fanclier. 



684 



History of Methodism. 



Churches. Conflicting claims to property were adjudicated by 
the Joint Commission both on general principles and in special 
cases; and directions were laid down, regulating the occupation 
of places as well as property, and it will be well for the peace 
of both parties and the honor of Christianity if they be well ob- 
served. In the beginning of their labors the Joint Commission 
adopted, without a dissentient voice, this basis and declaration 
of the relations of the two Churches: 

Status of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
and their coordinate relations as legitimate branches of Episcopal Methodism : 
Eacli of said Churches is a legitimate branch of Episcopal Methodism in the 
United States, having a common origin in the Methodist Episcopal Church organ- 
ized in 1784; and since the organization of tlie Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
was consummated in 1846, by the voluntary exercise of the right of the Southern 
Annual Conferences, ministers and members, to adhere to that Communion, it has 
been an evangelical Church, reared on scriptural foundations, and her ministers 
and members, with those of the Methodist Episcopal Church, have constituted one 
Methodist family, thougli in distinct ecclesiastical Connections. 

The suggestion was thrown out; it grew into a general assem- 
bly of all the sons of Wesley — an Ecumenical Methodist Confer- 
ence. Arrangements were completed for representatives from 
both hemispheres. As to the place of meeting no second opin- 
ion was heard, all feeling that for the first general assembly of 
the bands into which the United Societies of John AYesley had 
spread, no other spot could offer a scene so fitting as that City 
Road Chapel which had formed the principal center of his la- 
bors, and close to which his course had been finished and his 
dust laid. Of four hundred clerical and lay delegates one-half 
was to be chosen by churches in Europe with their missions, 
and one-half by churches in America with their missions. Fri- 
day, the 5th of August, 1881, was observed as a day of special 
prayer, on behalf of the approaching Conference, 
^n Wednesday, the 7th of September, the delegated breth- 
ren were assembled in the appointed place. They represented 
twenty-eight different denominations, and about five millions of 
living members, who preached or heard the gospel in thirty lan- 
guages. They came from England, Ireland, Scotland, France, 
Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Africa, India, 
China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and from all 
sections of the United States, from Canada, Nova Scotia, New 
Brunswick, South America, and the West Indies. 



The Ecumenical Conference. 



685 



The opening sermon was preached by the senior Bishop of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church,"^' after which the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper was administered to the Conference. The address 
of welcome was made by the President of the Wesleyan Confer- 
ence.f Concluding, he said: "'What hath God wrought?' 
That was John Wesley's text when he laid the foundation of 
this chapel. I was curious enough to ask myself how many 
Methodists there were in the world at that time, and the total 
number, including America, was a little more than forty-four 
thousand. Here is a good stand-point by means of which we can 
measure, to some extent at least, what God has wrought for us 
and by us — forfcy-four thousand and a few more, including Amer- 
ica — a hundred years ago. To-day we speak of millions. We 
do not know what millions are; very few of us, by experience 
and observation, have been able to realize the idea of a million; 
but still Ave speak of millions, and we do not speak without the 
book when we speak of millions gathered at this day, by our 
humble instrumentality and that of our fathers, to our fellow- 
ship, and training under our care for the best of all fellowships 
at the right-hand of God. In repeating the welcome, which it 
was my official duty to offer to this Conference, I may fall back 
upon the words of Charles Wesley — for I have almost learned 
to think in them, and I have found few words more eminently 
adapted to the promotion of vital godliness. One of his earli • 
est compositions is headed, ' On Receiving a Christian Friend.' 
It stands in the singular, but we can easily adapt it: 

Welcome, friends, in that great Name, 

Whence our every blessing flows; 
Enter, and increase the flame, 

Which in all our bosoms glows." 

For two weeks the assembly continued, during which the com- 
munion of saints was practically taught and personally realized. 
Sundays were given to devotion, and the week-day sessions to 
discussion, by prepared papers and freer conversations, on the 
great topics that engage the heads and hearts and hands of Wes- 
leyans everywhere; the sum of which is — spreading scriptural 
holiness over all lands. It was well remarked by one of the 

^ Bishop Simpson, whose lamented death is announced while these pages are 
going through the press, f George Osborn, D.D., President of Eiclimond Col- 
lege (theological), London. 



686 



History of Metltodism. 



speakers on the last day: "Methodism is admitted to be, in its 
ground-plan and in its striictnre, of all Chnrch systems the clos- 
est in texture and the most cohesive. Its original structure was, 
that of UNITED SOCIETIES. No other Church has such a concat- 
enation of appliances for binding its members together. It is, 
in fact as in name, a Connection, bound and fastened together 
by class-meetings, love-feasts, leaders' meetings, quarterly-meet- 
ings, district-meetings, Conferences, the community of minis- 
ters which the itinerancy secures, affiliated Conferences, fra- 
ternal Conferences, and now the top stone is at last brought on 
with shouting — the Ecumenical Conference." 

The entertainment of this company devolved upon the English 
Methodists, and nothing was left undone by those who keep the 
old homestead to make the family reunion pleasant and edify- 
ing. It was a love-feast of nations, and the members sepa- 
rated A^ith a greater love for the Head of the Church, and for 
that Christian family of which they formed a part, greater love 
for each other, and for all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ, of 
every clime, and a greater hope for the conversion of the world. 
Before adjournment another Ecumenical Conference was ar- 
ranged for, to be held on the western side of the Atlantic. 

While this record of the rise and progress of Methodism is 
being finished, notes of preparation are heard in the land. A 
hundi'ed years ago the Christmas Conference was held. Then 
the Church was organized with eighty-three preachers and fif- 
teen thousand members, which now numbers the former by thou- 
sands and the latter b}- millions. The times favor a Centen- 
nial Celebration, and as to the place of meeting, Baltimore has 
no rival. The graves of Asbury and Lee are tbere, and not far 
away sleeps the noble Strawbridge. And there, as from a mount 
of vision, may the people called Methodists, grateful for what 
God has done for them and by them in the past, catch an in- 
si^iring view of what God will do for them and by them, if 
faithful to their jDiinciples, in the next huxdeed yeaes. 



Fms. 



APPENDIX. 



METHODISTS THEOUGHOUT THE WOELD. 
Episcopal Methodists in the United States. 



Churches. 


Itinerant 
Preachfrs. 


Local I^ay 
Preachers. jMembers. 

1 


African Methodist Episcopal (Bethel) Church 
African ilethodist Episcopal (Zion) Church. 
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church 


12,647 
4,126 
1,832 
2,000 
1,046 

953 
1,257 

112 


12,026 
5,892 
9,760 
2,750 
683 
599 
963 
40 


1,769,534 
894,132 
391,044 
300,000 
155,000 
119,758 
159,547 
3,500 


Union American Methodist Episcopal Church 


23,973 


32,713 


3,792,515 


Non-Episcopal Methodists in the United States. 




1,358 
267 
263 
27 
25 


1,010 
215 
326 
162 
27 
23 


123,054 
23,590 
12,719 
3,716 
5,000 
20,000 


1,940 


1,763 


188,079 


Methodists in Canada. 


Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada 

British Methodist Episcopal Church, colored 


1,316 
259 
89 
79 

45 


1,261 
255 
246 
197 
20 


128,644 
25,671 
8,090 
7,398 
2,100 


1,688 


1,979 


171,903 


Methodists in Great Britain and Missions. 


British Wesleyan Methodists in Crreat Britain 
British Wesleyan Methodists in ISTissions. . . . 


1,917 
385 

1,147 
188 
391 
551 
228 
207 


14,183 

15,982 
1,271 
3,417 

1,909 
234 


441,484 
70,747 

196,480 
29,299 
84,152 
8,663 
28,624 
58,577 
19,159 


5,014 


36,996 


937,185 


Wesleyan Affiliating Conferences. 


Grand Total 


239 
196 
449 
167 


4,480 


25,050 
2,024 
69,392 
26,038 


1,051 


4,480 


126,504 


33,666 


77,931 


5,216,186 



(687) 



688 



Ap2)endix, 



i 



EELIGIOUS DEXOMIXATIONS IX THE UNITED STATES 
The census of 1880, so far as the statistics of Churches are concerned, has not 
yet appeared in print. From the census of 1870 the following table is taken. 

AVhen Methodism began in America tlie Protestant Episcopal Church had been 
on tiie ground for one hundred and sixty years. Congregationalism follovred in 
1620, Avhen the Mayflower landed Avitli an organized Church. The Baptists, if 
dating no farther back in America than Eoger Williams, may be reckoned from 
1639, and the Presbyterians from 1684. 



Pexomixations. 



Baptist (regular) 

Baptist (otiier) 

Christian 

Congregational 

Episcopal (Protestant) 

Evangelical Association 

Friends 

Jewish 

Lutheran 

Metliodist 

j\Iiscellaneous 

Moravian {Z^nitas Fratrum) 

Mormon , 

New .Jerusalem (Swedenborgian) 

Presbyterian (regular) 

Presbyterian (other). 

Eeformed Church in America 

Eeformed Church in United States . . 

Soman Catholic 

Second Advent 

Shaker 

Spiritualist. 

Unitarian 

United Brethren in Christ 

Universalists , 

Unknown (local missions) .., 

Unknown (union) , 



All denominations. 



Or.sani- 
zations, 



14,174 
1,355 
3,578 
2,887 
2,835 
815 
692 
189 
3,032 
25,278 
27 
72 
189 
90 
6,262 
1,562 
471 
1,256 
4,127 
225 
18 
95 
331 
1,445 
719 
26 
409 



Edifices. 



12,85 
1,105 
2,822 
2,715 
2,601 
641 
662 
152 
2,766 
21,337 
17 
67 
171 
61 
5,683 
1,388 
468 
1,145 
3,806 
140 
18 
22 
310 
937 
602 
27 
562 



Sittings. 



Property. 



3,997,116 

363,019 
865,602 
1,117,212 
991,051 
193,796 
224,664 
73,265 
977,332 
6,528,209 
6,935 
25,700 
87,838 
18.755 
2,198,900 
499,344 
227,228 
431,700 
1,990,514 
34,555 
8,850 
6,970 
155,471 
265,025 
210,884 
11,925 
153,202 



839,229,221 
2,378,997 
6,425,137 
25,069,698 
36,514,549 
2,301,650 
3,939,560 
5,155,234 
14,917,747 
69,854,121 
135,650 
709,100 
656,750 
869,700 
47,828,732 
5,436,524 
10,359,255 
5,775,215 
60,985,566 
306,240 
86,900 
100,150 
6,282,675 
1,819,810 
5,692,325 
687,800 
9()5,295 



72,459 63,082 21,665,062 8^-54,483,581 



From the last figures the "Methodist Year-book" makes the following exhibit: 



Total Methodists I 27,538 

Total Baptists (all kinds) | 

Total Presbyterians i 

Total Congregationalists | 

Total Protestant Episcopal j 

Total Boman Catholic I 



27,538 


22,915 


15,829 


13,962 


7,824 


7,070 


2,887 


2,715 


2,835 


2,601 


4,127 


3,806 



7,455,937 
4,360,135 
2,698;244 
1,117,212 
991,051 
1.900.514 



873,975,581 
41,608,198 
53,265,256 
25,069,698 
36,514.549 
60,985,566 



Total Methodists in the United States . 

Total Baptists (North and South) 

Total Presl)yterian3 (North and South) 

'Total C' ingregationalists 

Total Protestant Ei)isco])al 



Ministers. 
2 ^ 
1 V21(i 
S.<9 
3,723 
3,630 



Members. 
3,99 ,724 
2,552,129 
l,or)-.944 
387,619 
313,889 



Exclusive of 3-i,714 local preachers, man}' of them ordained; 



